A STRANGE state of matter that dominated the early universe could be used to create ultra-fast flashes of radiation, brief enough to capture what’s going on inside atomic nuclei.
To take snapshots of rapid processes you need brief flashes of light. Until now, the shortest pulses have been created by lasers – a quick blast can prompt atoms to release a burst of X-rays lasting only attoseconds (10-18 seconds, or a billionth of a billionth of a second). That is quick enough to capture the vibration of individual molecules, but far too slow for nuclear processes.
Now it may…
