This year's Nobel Prize in Physics rewards research into electrons in 'flashes of light'.
Science correspondent, BBC News
One attosecond is a quintillionth of a second - it is to a second what one second is to the age of the Universe. Electrons are particles inside atoms and they move incredibly fast - in billionths of a second. Prior to the laureates' breakthroughs, they effectively appeared as blurs under the most advanced microscopes - their movement and behaviour was too rapid to follow.
"Attosecond physics" is bringing important processes inside atoms and molecules into sharper focus. The development is likely to lead to even more accurate electron microscopes, much faster electronics and new tests able to diagnose diseases at a much earlier stage.Prof L'Huillier, who is based at Lund University in Sweden, is only the fifth woman to win a physics Nobel.
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