Wittgenstein Award Laureate
Wittgenstein Award Laureate 2002 Univ. Prof. Dr. Ferenc Krausz
Quantum optics: ultrafast and high-field processes, Technical University Vienna
Institut für Photonik , TU Wien 
MPQ-LMU Laboratory for Attosecond & High-Field Physics (LAP)__
The International Max Planck Research School on Advanced Photon Science (IMPRS-APS)
”Thanks to the Prize we were able to be the first to produce a few spectacular results.”
FIRST PLACE, IN SCIENCE MORE SO THAN IN SPORT
That the Wittgenstein Prize provides the freedom to act quickly on ideas is particularly high praise coming from someone used to thinking in attoseconds. An attosecond is the simply unimaginably short time span of 10 to the power of -18 seconds.
As of recently, the research projects of the laser physicist Ferenc Krausz are taking place at this timescale. His work is concerned with the fastest possible processes, the shortest flashes and ”atomic photography” with the aid of ultra - short pulse laser technology. Born in Hungary, Krausz started work on the area during his studies in Budapest, where he helped to push back the limits of what was possible. He continued to do so in Vienna, where after a research visit to the University of Technology he elected to stay and where his early successes were recognized in 1996 with the award of one of the first START Prizes.
In those days Krausz calculated in femtoseconds (10 to the power of -15) and his group was pretty proud to have solved the problem of different frequencies by means of specially coated mirrors. They hoped further to carry out experiments with the high-energy electrons released that thus far were possible only in large particle accelerators.
In the meantime Krausz is much closer to realizing his dream. In 2002 he was awarded the highly renowned Wittgenstein Prize for the project ”Quantum optics: ultra-fast and strong-field processes”. As he says, ”a notable early result was the production of pulses of 250 attosecond duration and their use to scan the oscillating electrical field of a light source”. The rapid availability of money is vital to him in an area of research ”that is developing so quickly and where there is so much competition – this is as valuable as the money itself. Thanks to it we were able to be the first to produce a few spectacular results. Coming second in science is worth even less than coming second in sport.”
There is competition throughout the world and this is as it should be, because who would want to work alone in an area? A growing number of universities and research centres are making progress in the attosecond region: in Paris, Lund, Amsterdam and Ottawa as well as in Japan and the USA. And in Germany, where since autumn 2004 Krausz holds a chair of experimental physics at the University of Munich. When he learned of his appointment his possibilities in Vienna were naturally limited. The FWF agreed to extend funding for some of his post - doctoral coworkers, although this support will finish in mid-2006. However, Krausz still has connections with Vienna: a Doctoral Programme has just been established at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics (www.mpq.mpg.de/APS -link on page top), ”in which colleagues from the Vienna University of Technology are naturally full partners”.
Together with colleagues from Amsterdam, the Munich physicists have conducted an initial successful experiment to control the movement of electrons in whole molecules. This had previously been done in atoms: electrons in them were subjected to extremely short waves of light, as a result of which processes could be initiated and controlled at the atto scale. ”The molecular level is very exciting because electrons are ultimately responsible for binding atoms into molecules and thus for keeping our bodies together. We may one day be able to control chemical reactions at the most fundamental level, at their source, if you like.” This could in turn lead to the synthesis of new materials or medicines and possibly even to the repair of defective biosystems such as DNA.
