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In physics, the adjective ultrafast describes events that occur on femtosecond (10-15 s) to picosecond (10-12 s) timescales. Once impossible to observe, ultrafast phenomena are now extensively studied thanks to advances in the design of pulsed dye lasers and more recently with the invention of the pulsed Ti:sapphire laser, which can create pulses as short as 5 femtoseconds (roughly two optical cycles) when mode-locked.
Applications
The ability to study phenomena that happen on very short timescales is useful in many fields of science. Ultrafast lasers are currently being used in many applications including: to study the femtosecond dynamics of electrons in solids, to create small, tabletop-sized fusion experiments, to manipulate and monitor chemical reactions, to modify and image magnetic surfaces, and to create and study plasmas. They have also been used extensively in microscopy.
The 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Ahmed H. Zewail for using ultrashort pulses to observe chemical reactions on the timescales they occur on, opening up the field of femtochemistry.
External links
"Ultrafast"