Beyond Attoseconds
A.E. Kaplan
We briefly review the pilot ideas on the generation of electromagnetic (EM)-pulses much shorter than already available sub-femtosecond pulses, and outline inroads and venues into the physics of pulses much shorter than an attosecond (10-18 seconds), in particular the so called zeptosecond (10-21 seconds) and yoctosecond (10-24 seconds) pulses that may allow one to operate on QED and nuclear, as well as quark-gluon time plasma scales. We also briefly outline the entire time-scale available in the existing universe, down to the ultimately short the so called Planck time, around 10-43 seconds, which is the time-scale of Big Bang, and the most significant time scale posts on the road to it.
Keywords: Laser pulse, attosecond, zeptosecond, yoctosecond, Planck time, quark-gluon plasmas (QGP), Big Bang