How 3 physicists froze time for a peek at electron dynamics

On their way to Nobel Prize, Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier generated brief pulses of light, enabling the study of electrons in motion

New Delhi An analogy with hummingbirds, described by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, gives a sense of the kind of work that won Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier the Nobel Prize for Physics on Tuesday.

Scientists Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier are announced as the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics at a press conference in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on Tuesday. (REUTERS)

A hummingbird beats its wings 80 times per second. Each wingbeat is too momentary for human perception; what the naked eye sees is a blurry movement. High-speed photography, however, makes it possible to capture such fleeting moments. For a hummingbird, the exposure