Have you ever heard of attoseconds? They’re unimaginably short bursts of time–one attosecond is equal to one quintillionth of a second! Scientists recently discovered a way to use intense lasers to magnetize solids in just attoseconds.

This breakthrough was made possible by a team of researchers from the University of Ottawa, who used a method called laser-induced magnetization reversal. By firing an intense laser pulse at a sample of material, they were able to create a magnetic field that reversed the material’s magnetization in an incredibly short amount of time.

The implications of this discovery are enormous. This new method could make it possible to study how materials respond to magnetic fields in an incredibly short time frame. It could also lead to new ways of controlling and manipulating magnetic fields for a variety of applications.

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source: Phys.org