Based on her work, scientists can now monitor electron dynamics happening in a few attoseconds – an attosecond is to a second as a second is to about 31.71 billion years.

L’Huillier, a French professor at Lund University in Sweden, highlighted what inspired her as a child to be a scientist and explained the positive impact of teaching undergraduates on her compared to frustrating moments in doing research.  

Ahram Online: It is quite unusual for a very high calibre like you to still be lecturing to undergraduates. Why do you keep teaching? Is it helpful for your research?

Anne L’Huillier: I love teaching and cannot imagine that one day I will stop lecturing to my students. It provides a very nice balance with my research work because you have a direct impact when explaining something to students, unlike scientific research, which requires years of work to have a certain impact.

For sure, teaching is not so useful for my research; maybe it allows me to recruit young people for scientific projects.

The story of my Nobel award notification is not exactly as it was circulated in the media. 

AO: Would you tell us the real story?

AL: I was informed during the break between lectures, so I was alone when I picked up my phone. I had to keep it secret for one more hour: the Nobel committee wanted me to stay on the phone.

I told them that was impossible as a hundred students were waiting for me. So, I went back to my class and continued teaching.

I think the students guessed when I asked them to end the lecture earlier for a personal matter.

It was a very nice moment with the students and they liked it a lot. They were part of my Nobel Prize announcement.

AO: What inspired you to become a physicist?

AL: I do not remember exactly when I decided to become a scientist, perhaps during my childhood.

I remember that I was spending the summer vacation at my grandmother’s house. One day, she woke me up to watch the first man walk on the moon. Those scenes were extremely exciting, and despite the poor transmission, I was fascinated by the scientific and technological performance that led to bringing a man to the moon and to live broadcast of that footage.

I was amazed by the science that brought this kind of achievement. I should also mention that I was lucky to get my education in France and to be inspired by my math and physics teachers.

AO: In your early career, you studied theoretical physics and math. What made you switch to experimental physics?

AL: For me, theoretical and experimental physics are one subject. My aim and motivation have always been to do research in both.

When I did my education in France, I studied mathematics to an advanced level. At that time, I wanted to be a math teacher; then, I switched to physics and felt lucky that I had a strong background in math.

I was very much inspired by my teachers like Nobel laureate Professor Serge Haroche and many others who used to combine theoretical and experimental physics in their classes.

AO: How can we define attosecond physics?

AL: The term “attosecond physics” is a research field that follows “femtosecond chemistry” which was coined by Professor Ahmed Zewail.

In femtosecond chemistry, scientists look at the motion of atoms and molecules which takes place in a time scale of femtoseconds (one second equals 10 to the power 15 femtoseconds).

However, in attosecond physics, we monitor electrons' motion in a much shorter time scale (one second equals 10 to the power 18 attoseconds).

Simply, we are measuring the time it takes for an electron to propagate its potential. We are not doing attosecond chemistry yet; we are still beginning and that will lead to several applications.

AO: What are the future applications of attosecond science?

AL: Currently, the field is exploding in many directions and applications like spectroscopy, chemistry, biology, and industrial applications.

For example, the attosecond technology is now utilized in developing the semiconductor industry, which will contribute to the emergence of advanced generations of computers and mobile phones.

Companies are running prototypes of these semiconductors, and it may take some time to test and evaluate.

AO: Is there something to be measured beyond attosecond?

AL: In theory, it is possible to go to a shorter time scale called zeptosecond (one second equals 10 to the power 21 zeptoseconds).

Several technical problems should be solved first, as this time scale might help us look at things happening on the scale of the atomic nucleus.

In our field, developing research in attosecond science and its applications is more important than tackling the next record. That seems more important to me, but science will surely continue progressing.