Attosecond virtual charge dynamics in dielectrics

Understanding the ultrafast mechanisms that occur within materials when they are hit by extremely short light pulses is one of the great challenges of contemporary physics. A new study, led by the Politecnico di Milano and published in Nature Photonics, reveals a crucial yet previously underexplored aspect: the role of virtual charges in insulating materials.

The research, carried out at the Attosecond Research Center (ARC) of Politecnico di Milano and conducted in collaboration with the University of Tsukuba, the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, and the CNR-IFN, employed light pulses lasting only a few attoseconds (billionths of a billionth of a second) to investigate the behavior of single-crystal diamond.

To find out the results, read the full news article at the following link: light-matter interaction