Handshaking between THz and hard x-ray: forging the key to zeptosecond science

The shortest flashes of light that have ever been produced by mankind last only a few attosecond (10^-18 seconds). The biggest obstacle to push the pulses into the zeptosecond (10^-21 seconds) regime is the development of suitable driving laser at very long infrared wavelength. This project aims to boost the efficiency of an air plasma ultra-broadband THz generation process by a few orders of magnitude. If it is successful, the developed high-energy THz pulses can be the ideal drivers to produce isolated, hard x-ray zeptosecond flashes. Such an incredible handshaking between THz and hard x-ray will break the attosecond barrier and enable time resolution for dynamics of subatomic particles, such as tracking the movements of protons and neutrons during nuclear fission or fusion.