A femtosecond is an extremely small unit of time equal to 10⁻¹⁵ seconds. In physics and chemistry, it is the standard timescale for measuring atomic and molecular motion. Researchers use femtosecond lasers to observe chemical reactions as they happen, effectively taking stop-motion photographs of chemical bonds breaking and forming.
Heard on the job
Set the pulse duration to 50 femtoseconds and check the beam alignment before we run the next sample.
Insider tip
A femtosecond is to a second what a second is to about 31.7 million years.