Laser-induced molecular dynamics and ionization represent a frontier in ultrafast science, whereby intense laser pulses induce rapid electronic and nuclear motions in molecules. This field explores ...

The last decade has been marked by a series of remarkable discoveries identifying how the universe is composed. It is understood that the mysterious substance dark matter makes up 85% of the matter in ...

In 2009 researchers found an "ionization surprise" that defied explanation. Until that time, it had been commonly thought that the ionization of atoms by strong laser fields was well-understood, but ...

It is definitely the most famous experiment in quantum physics: in the double slit experiment, a particle is fired onto a plate with two parallel slits, so there are two different paths on which the ...

Laser wakefield acceleration works by shooting powerful laser pulses through a cloud of ionized gas (plasma). The pulse creates a wave (or wake) on which introduced electrons “surf,” much as human ...

Little is known about the heaviest, radioactive elements in Mendeleev's table. But an extremely sensitive technique involving laser light and gas jets makes it possible for the very first time to gain ...

Quantum field theories are powerful tools for particle physics and condensed matter physics but are rarely used in plasma physics. However, in warm-dense regimes, where matter is partially ionized and ...

Quantum tunneling is the process by which particles—electrons and so forth—can exit a system even though they appear to be trapped. Tunneling is responsible for a number of phenomena, including the ...

Particle accelerators can speed up subatomic particles almost to the speed of light. The tradeoff is that this requires miles-long tunnels, so such machines are typically enormous and very expensive ...