Attosecond

An attosecond (symbol as) is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to 1×10−18 of a second (one quintillionth of a second). For comparison, an attosecond is to a second what a second is to about 31.71 billion years.

The word "attosecond" is formed by the prefix atto and the unit second. Atto- was derived from the Danish word for eighteen (atten). Its symbol is as.

An attosecond is equal to 1000 zeptoseconds, or 11000 of a femtosecond. Because the next higher SI unit for time is the femtosecond (10−15 seconds), durations of 10−17 s and 10−16 s will typically be expressed as tens or hundreds of attoseconds:

Times which can be expressed in attoseconds:

  • 0.247 attoseconds: travel time of a photon across "the average bond length of molecular hydrogen"
  • 24 attoseconds: the atomic unit of time
  • 43 attoseconds: the shortest pulses of laser light yet created
  • 53 attoseconds: the second-shortest pulses of laser light created
  • 82 attoseconds (approximately): half-life of beryllium-8, maximum time available for the triple-alpha process for the synthesis of carbon and heavier elements in stars
  • 84 attoseconds: the approximate half-life of a neutral pion
  • 100 attoseconds: fastest-ever view of molecular motion
  • 320 attoseconds: estimated time it takes electrons to transfer between atoms

In 2023, physicists Anne L'Huillier, Pierre Agostini and Ferenc Krausz won the Nobel Prize in Physics for creating the attosecond pulses of light - useful for study of electron dynamics in matter. Their contributions have opened the field of attosecond physics.

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-11-05 12:50 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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