Nobel Laureate Anne L’Huillier to Give a Public Lecture in Vilnius

On 15 September (Tuesday), at 11:30, the National Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (Saulėtekio al. 3, room A101), will host a special event as part of ‘Open Readings’, the international science conference organised by students of the Vilnius University (VU) Faculty of Physics – a public lecture by Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Prof. Anne L’Huillier, ‘The World of Atoms at the Attosecond Time Scale’.

The lecture will explain how very intense laser light, when interacting with atoms, produces remarkable, extremely short pulses of light. These pulses last only around 100 attoseconds – a time so short that electrons within an atom barely have time to move.

These extraordinarily short light pulses allow scientists to observe what was previously impossible to see – how ultrafast processes take place in matter, for example, how electrons move in atoms and molecules.

The lecture will also explore how attosecond science has developed in recent decades and how scientists have managed to achieve such incredible progress.

Anne L’Huillier is one of the pioneers of attosecond science. Her research has been extremely important in advancing the understanding of ultrafast processes in matter. For fundamental research on high-order harmonic generation and the generation of attosecond light pulses, she was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Pierre Agostini and Ferenc Krausz. Currently, Prof. Anne L’Huillier continues her research on the development of attosecond light sources and the study of ultrafast electron dynamics at Lund University.

The event is free and open to everyone, but advance registration is required.

The event is organised on the initiative of ‘Open Readings’, in cooperation with COLA 2026 (International Conference on Laser Ablation).

Please note that photographs and videos will be taken throughout the event. The footage may be used by the organisers for informational and publicity purposes.