By Ken Afor
Three atomic physicists – France’s Pierre Agostini, Hungary-Austria’s Ferenc Krausz, and France-Sweden’s Anne L’Huillier, on Tuesday have won the 2023 Nobel Prize for “experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter,” according to the organiser.
The trio were awarded the prize because they have been able to demonstrate a way in shortening pulses of light used in measuring rapid responses in electrons
“An attosecond is so short that there are as many in one second as there have been seconds since the birth of the universe,” the Nobel jury said.
The jury added that the trio “have demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy.
“The laureates’ contributions have enabled the investigation of processes that are so rapid they were previously impossible to follow.”
While Krausz is the director of the Max Planck Institute in Germany, Agostini is a professor at Ohio State University in the United States.
L’Huillier, a professor at Sweden’s Lund University, is the only woman to have won the Physics Prize five times total since 1901.
She told reporters that it “was difficult” to finish the class because she was in the middle of teaching when she got the call from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.”
“I am very touchéd. There are not so many women that get this prize; so it’s very, very special,” L’Huillier said.
It would be recalled that Alain Aspect of France, John Clauser of the United States, and Anton Zeilinger of Austria received the Nobel Prize last year for their research on quantum entanglement, which Albert Einstein once called “spooky action.”
On December 10, the anniversary of the scientist Alfred Nobel’s passing in 1896, the trio will receive a share of the 11 million Swedish kronor (roughly $1 million) award at a ceremony in Stockholm from King Carl XVI Gustaf. Nobel established the prizes in his will.
The highly anticipated Literature and Peace Prizes will be presented on Thursday and Friday, respectively, after the Chemistry and Physics Prizes are presented on Wednesday.
On Monday, the 2023 Nobel season comes to an end with the Economics Prize, which was established in 1968 and is the only Nobel not mentioned in Alfred Nobel’s will from 1895.
