Attophysics

Attophysics is a branch of Physics wherein attosecond duration pulses of electrons or photons are used to probe dynamic processes in matter with unprecedented time resolution. This branch of Physics which involves studying some of the fastest physical events is also known as Attoscience. The majority of Attoscience is investigated in an analogous fashion to using strobe lights and high-speed film to examine gross matter activities in pump-probe experiments. High temporal resolution measurements were first demonstrated in novel experiments such as the famous photograph of a bullet penetrating an apple, or even Eadweard Muybridge's 19th Century photo series which proved that horses hooves do leave the ground at a running pace.

Today, attophysicists mostly study molecular phenomena, such as how a particular protein breaks down under X-Ray bombardment. "One of the primary goals of attosecond science is to provide more insights into the dynamics of atomic electrons."ref|Agostini

ee also

* Ultrashort pulse
* Harmonic Generation

References

#cite journal
author=Pierre Agostini and Louis F DiMauro
title=The physics of attosecond light pulses
journal=Institute of Physics Publishing: Reports on Progress in Physics
year=2004
volume=67
pages=813–855
url=http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/0034-4885/67/6/R01/rpp4_6_R01.pdf
# [http://discovermagazine.com/2003/jun/feattime Stopping Time: What can you do in a billionth of a billionth of a second?]