China launches construction of attosecond laser infrastructure to glimpse ultrafast world

GUANGZHOU -- China has launched the construction of a key scientific infrastructure to generate attosecond laser, which will help scientists "see" the ultrafast particles in the microscopic world and facilitate cutting-edge research and high-tech industries.

The Advanced Attosecond Laser Infrastructure (AALI), including facilities in Dongguan in South China's Guangdong province and Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, is constructed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The AALI project is planned to set up 10 beamlines covering wavelengths in extreme ultraviolet, soft X-ray and terahertz radiation, along with 22 research terminals, forming a comprehensive attosecond science facility in the next five years, according to the Institute of Physics (IOP) of CAS.

One attosecond is one-quintillionth of a second, or 0.000000000000000001 seconds. In one second, light can circle the Earth's equator seven and a half times. However, in one attosecond, the distance light travels is only on the scale of an atom, physicists explained.

Within atoms and molecules, electrons zip around at extreme speeds. Capturing their to-and-fro is only possible with pulses of light that are extremely short. Attosecond laser is akin to a camera flash that lasts billions of billions of times briefer than a second. When viewed in such short flashes, the incessant buzzing of electrons becomes sluggish.

The development of attosecond laser pulses has opened the door to the world of electrons, allowing physicists to investigate a wide range of electron behaviors. Scientists are expected to discover more novel phenomena at the attosecond scale, advancing both fundamental and applied sciences.

The 2023 Nobel Prize in physics was shared by three physicists for their pioneering work in developing the ability to illuminate this realm with ultrashort pulses of light.

The essence of physical, chemical or biological processes lies in the interactions and relative motions of the microscopic particles that make up matter. Among these, the movements of electrons direct the evolution of the entire microprocess, making it a key focus of studies in microdynamics, said Zhao Kun, a researcher with IOP and chief engineer of the Dongguan part of AALI.

The technology of attosecond laser has provided a groundbreaking tool for the direct measurement of electronic dynamics, offering novel technological means to address significant fundamental scientific issues in physics, chemistry, materials science, information technology and biomedicine, Zhao said.

In-depth research on electron dynamics utilizing advanced attosecond laser facility is expected to yield important discoveries and breakthroughs in fields such as quantum computing, high-temperature superconductivity and ultrafast magnetic storage, Zhao said.

This facility is expected to foster new high-tech industries, such as ultra-high-capacity communications and computing, as well as advanced laser manufacturing, Zhao added.