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K-State Today

June 15, 2011

Physics professor published in Nature Physics

Submitted by Vincent Needham

Carlos Trallero, assistant professor of physics and the James R. MacDonald Laboratory, and a team of researchers from the National Research Council of Canada and the Advanced Laser Light Source of the Centre-Energi-Materiaux Telecommunications, have published an article in Nature Physics titled "Probing collective multi-electron dynamics in xenon with high-harmonic spectroscopy." 

Trallero and his colleagues study the interactions of atoms and molecules using ultra-short pulses of laser light. These laser pulses sometimes excite their targets into re-emitting light at higher frequencies and in even shorter pulses, a process called high-harmonic generation. High-harmonic spectroscopy provides a unique insight into the electronic structure of atoms and molecules. Although this new attosecond science holds the promise of accessing the time scale of electron-electron interactions, until now, their signature has not been seen in high-harmonic spectroscopy. The team has recorded high-harmonic spectra of atoms using a new, almost ideal laser source. 

Nature Physics is one of the most relevant journals in the field of physics with an impact factor of 15.49. The full article can be read at the Nature Physics website.