Attosecond physics is a branch of physics that deals with phenomena occurring on the timescale of attoseconds (1 attosecond = \(10^{-18}\) seconds). This field primarily focuses on understanding electronic processes in atoms, molecules, and materials, as these processes often happen very rapidly—typically on the order of tens to hundreds of attoseconds.
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Attosecond physics resolves changes on the scale of seconds, especially electron dynamics. Its central trick is to convert a short optical event into an experimentally accessible energy or phase change. A broad optical spectrum provides the ingredients for a short optical pulse; their spectral phases determine when those ingredients add constructively. High harmonic generation supplies the optical spectrum, while RABBITT and attosecond streaking supply complementary timing measurements. XUV denotes extreme ultraviolet radiation.
There are two separate timing problems: characterize the incident optical pulse, then infer the response of the target. A photoelectron measurement mixes the incident spectral phase, the target's transition response and the probing electric field. Recovering one requires constraints on the others. These methods measure distributions of photoelectron energies over repeated shots, rather than photographing a moving atomic orbital.
