IT IS the atomic equivalent of the blink of an eye. European scientists have measured the shortest interval of time yet 鈥� 100 attoseconds. The technique could be used to create 鈥渕ovies鈥� of the way electrons move inside atoms.
The team used a short pulse of extreme ultraviolet light to create an initial image of an electron, followed 100 attoseconds (or 100 脳 10鈭�18 seconds) later by a visible laser pulse. Comparing the two images showed how the electron had moved in that time (Nature, vol 26, p 817). Femtosecond (10鈭�15 second) intervals are routinely measured, but electrons move an order of magnitude more quickly.
The technique should allow researchers to monitor electrons during processes such as bond formation, says the team at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria.
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