Attosecond: Real time vision

 

Nobel prize in science are reference for knowing about the best in scientific achievements. You come to know about significant steps in research that you never knew. Today’s Nobel prize in Physics is for methods to “…generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics…”. It’s about observing electron dynamics in real time thus providing insights into how electron move and interact at quantum level, timescales previously inaccessible. It is like having a new sense at attosecond level. This access to nature is quite similar to Gravitational Waves that gave us a new sight to observe space. The implication of attosecond is set to revolutionize fundamental science -imagine most people (including me, and I like to keep myself abreast with latest in science and technology) were not even aware of this, and numerous technological applications with this real time ability to control and harness properties of electron.

It also reminds me of some incredible examples from nature. For instance, Fire Chaser Beetles can sense fire at a whooping distance of 130Kms -imagine that! Their heat seeking pits are as sensitive as quantum detectors using much less energy. Another example that comes to mind is that of Killer Flies found in Mediterranean region that have ultrafast vision -indeed it could be quantum level real time. Eyes don’t perceive at speed of light. Eyes work at different speed, meaning, what we perceive as real time is much slow from insect’s perspective. For Killer flies it takes 6 to 9 milliseconds for its photoreceptors to react to incoming photons and then for the photons to send electrical signal to brain and to respond, that is, to send command to its muscles. All these three steps are achieved in mindboggling 6 to 9 milliseconds. For humans the first step -for photoreceptors to receive the signal, itself takes 30 to 60 milliseconds! Which means by the time we even perceive Killer fly has already caught the prey!

What would be interesting to know is whether species have evolved through the 3.8 billion years of evolution of life to tap the potential of attosecond (indeed, a question was asked about photosynthesis during the Q&A session today. Few years back I happen to see Prof. Jim Al Khalili's documentary that had reference of quantum level jiggling during photosynthesis. Or the process of mimicking by species). Will awareness of attosecond help us to study survival strategies of species better hence insight into potential applications and understanding nature?