I thought you were being glib but no:
"An attosecond is so short that that the number of them in one second is the same as the number of seconds that have elapsed since the universe came into existence, 13.8 billion years ago. On a more relatable scale, we can imagine a fash of light being sent from one end of a room to the opposite wall – this takes ten billion attoseconds."
That's truly amazing that we can measure at that detail. Mind blowing actually.
I really enjoy the accompanied "Popular science background"-paper the Nobel Committee releases together with the awards. It's linked on the page, but a direct link that explains the contributions of this award is here: https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2023/10/popular-physicspr...
Superimposing light waves at various frequencies—-similar to how some sound canceling headphones work with sound waves, where sounds cancel if of different phases—where the top of one wave starts at the same time the bottom of the second wave does. It does this by creating overtones when the light hits a gas. It’s not just turning on light and turning it off again like a switch. Maybe try superimposing your API calls.
I understand (at an undergrad level) superimposing light waves. But this blows my mind:
At the same time, Ferenc Krausz and his research group in Austria were working on a technique that could select a single pulse – like a carriage being uncoupled from a train and switched to another track. The pulse they succeeded in isolating lasted 650 attoseconds
Understanding it at a high-level certainly doesn’t take away from the achievement one bit. You still have to be incredibly precise and know the techniques inside and out. Obviously everyone agrees since they received a Nobel Prize.
