Nobel laureate Anne L'Huillier visits the campus

15 January 2024

Photo: Miriam Huckschlag, DESY

Francesca Calegari (centre right) and her team guide Anne L'Huillier (centre left) through the attosecond laboratory in the PETRA III experimental hall.

At the invitation of CUI spokesperson Francesca Calegari, Nobel Prize winner Anne L'Huillier from the University of Lund visited the Bahrenfeld campus. The visit was centered around her speaking at the Photon Science Colloquium about "Attosecond light pulses for studying ultrafast processes".

Due to the expected large number of visitors, the colloquium, which usually takes place at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) and to which the Photon Science organizations and research cooperations on the Bahrenfeld campus regularly invite guests, was moved to the lecture hall at DESY.

The research for which Anne L'Huillier was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Pierre Agostini from Ohio State University, and Ferenc Krausz from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, is very close to the research in the Cluster of Excellence "CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter" and on campus. The prize was awarded for the shortest light pulses ever generated by humanity. The generation of these light pulses is only possible via an extremely non-linear optical process; at the same time, it is key for the study of the electron dynamics in matter. Attosecond technology has opened up the possibility of observing extremely fast processes.

"Anne L´Huillier´s discoveries have contributed decisively to advance research with ultrashort pulses and lasers development, which are also crucial for progress in this research field here on campus,” says Francesca Calegari, who is a professor at Universität Hamburg and a senior scientist at DESY. “Our collaboration with her is extremely inspiring, and we are delighted and honored that she accepted our invitation, which we extended even before her Nobel Prize, even as a Nobel Laureate.”

Together with Francesca Calegari and her team, Anne L'Hullier visited attosecond and laser research laboratories at DESY and CFEL and answered questions from students during a panel discussion at CFEL. The Nobel Prize winner is also a senior scientist at the international Helmholtz-Lund Graduate School HELIOS.

More information

Interview with Francesca Calegari about the Nobel Prize in Physics and attosecond research: The shortest light pulses ever generated