The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light to study the dynamics of electrons in matter”.
To get an idea of the time scale that these techniques can capture, an attosecond corresponds to a billionth of a billionth of a second, that is, 10−18 s. On this time scale, it is possible to study the oscillations and configuration variation of electronic states in atoms, molecules, macromolecules and crystal lattices.
In ITA's Physics Postgraduate program there are several lines of research that study the electronic properties of atoms, molecules, crystal lattices and two-dimensional materials, such as graphene. Furthermore, there is also a line of research focused on studying the interaction between electromagnetic waves and matter, configuring fast-scale phenomena, such as polaritons. For more information, check out the link to the PG-FIS atomic and molecular physics research lines