The Nobel Prize in physics - 2018

 "for ground breaking inventions in the field of laser physics"

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 was awarded "for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics" with:

One half to Arthur Ashkin "for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems". 

The other half jointly to Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland "for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses".

Did you know we can move atoms with light? 

One of the new areas of research that has arisen in recent years is attosecond physics. Laser pulses shorter than a hundred attoseconds (one attosecond is a billionth of a billionth of a second) reveal the dramatic world of electrons.

Electrons are the workhorses of chemistry; they are responsible for the optical and electrical properties of all matter and for chemical bonds. Now they are not only observable, but they can also be controlled.

Many applications for these new laser techniques are waiting just around the corner – faster electronics, more effective solar cells, better catalysts, more powerful accelerators, new sources of energy, or designer pharmaceuticals. No wonder there is tough competition in laser physics.

The CPA technique revolutionised laser technology:

The CPA technique revolutionised laser technology enabled the emission of very intense, short pulses of light using an intricate method to avoid the risk of destroying the amplifying material. 

Instead of amplifying the light pulse directly, it is first stretched in time, reducing its peak power. Then the pulse is amplified and when it is compressed more light is collected in the same place – the light pulse becomes extremely intense.

A laser’s extremely high intensity also makes its light a tool for changing the properties of matter: electrical insulators can be converted to conductors, and ultra-sharp laser beams make it possible to cut or drill holes in various materials extremely precisely – even in living matter.

For example, lasers can be used to create more efficient data storage, as the storage is not only built on the surface of the material, but also in tiny holes drilled deep into the storage medium. The technology is also used to manufacture surgical stents, micrometresized cylinders of stretched metal that widen and reinforce blood vessels, the urinary tract and other passageways inside the body.  

The short pulses from a femtosecond laser (right) cause less damage in the material than the million-times longer pulses from a nanosecond laser (left). Ultrashort and intense laser pulses are used in eye surgery, data storage and the manufacture of medical stents for operations in the body’s vessels.

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