The Nobel Prize in Physics was recently awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for work which allows to study processes inside atoms and molecules at the most fundamental time scale. The trio of scientists was recognized by the committee "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter."

The laureates have developed the tools to produce light pulses that are so short that they can trace processes that are driven by the behavior of electrons at the attosecond timescale (one billionth of a billionth of a second), which was previously inconceivable to measure. Scientists can now explore the detailed physics of atoms and molecules.

"There are potential applications in many different areas," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences wrote. "In electronics, for example, it is important to understand and control how electrons behave in a material. Attosecond pulses can also be used to identify different molecules, such as in medical diagnostics."

Anne L'Huillier, of Lund University, is only the fifth female winner of the Physics Prize. She co-authored an article in Applied Sciences' special issue on "Advanced EUV and X-Ray Optics".

Pierre Agostini, an Emeritus Professor of Ohio State University and originally from France, like L'Huillier, is co-author of an article which appeared in the special issue "Attosecond Science and Technology: Principles and Applications".

We offer our congratulations to this year's laureates of the Physics Prize!