Editing Attosecond (section)

== Historical development ==

In 2001, [[Ferenc Krausz]] and his team at the [[Technical University of Vienna]] fired an ultrashort wavelength (7 femtoseconds) red laser pulse into a stream of [[neon]] atoms, where the stripped electrons were carried by the pulse and almost immediately re-ejected into the neon nucleus.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Attosecond Physics becomes a Milestone |url=https://www.mpq.mpg.de/4857719/10_05_17 |access-date=2023-10-24 |website=www.mpq.mpg.de |language=en}}</ref>

While capturing the attosecond pulse, the physicists also demonstrated its utility. They aimed attosecond and longer-wavelength red pulses at a type of krypton atom simultaneously: first, the electrons were knocked off; then, the red light pulse hit the electrons; finally, the energy was tested. Judging from the difference in the timing of these two pulses, the scientists obtained a very precise measurement of how long it took the electron to decay (how many attoseconds). Never before have scientists used such a short time scale to study the energy of electrons.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0031-8949/91/6/063011/meta |doi=10.1088/0031-8949/91/6/063011 |title=The birth of attosecond physics and its coming of age |date=2016 |last1=Krausz |first1=Ferenc |journal=Physica Scripta |volume=91 |issue=6 |bibcode=2016PhyS...91f3011K |s2cid=124590030 }}</ref>