Beyond Attoseconds

TL;DR

This paper explores the generation and potential applications of ultra-short electromagnetic pulses, from attoseconds to yoctoseconds, and discusses the fundamental physical time-scales in the universe, including the Planck time.

Contribution

It reviews ideas for creating pulses shorter than an attosecond and discusses their implications for probing QED, nuclear, and quark-gluon plasma scales, extending to the universe's fundamental time-scales.

Findings

Proposes methods for generating zeptosecond and yoctosecond pulses.

Highlights potential to operate on QED and nuclear time scales.

Connects ultra-short pulses to fundamental universe time-scales.

Abstract

We briefly review the pilot ideas on the generation of EM-pulses much shorter than already available sub-femtosecond pulses, and outline inroads and venues into the physics of pulses mush shorter than an attosecond (10^-18 s), in particular the so called zeptosecond (10^-21 s) and yoctosecond (10^-24 s) pulses that may allow one to operate on QED and nuclear as well as quark-gluon time plasma scales. We also very briefly outline the entire time-scale available in the existing universe, down to the ultimately short the so called Planck time ~ 10^-43 s, which is the time-scale of Big Bang, and the most significant time-scale-posts on the road to it.