How to Use attosecond in a Sentence

attosecond

noun
  • These bunches take on an attosecond time structure.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 3 Apr. 2017
  • An attosecond is a billionth of a billionth of a second.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 28 May 2024
  • One attosecond is one-billionth of a billionth of a second.
    — Thomas Linker, The Conversation, 15 Oct. 2025
  • There are more attoseconds in a second than there are seconds in the current age of the universe.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 28 May 2024
  • Enlarge / An attosecond is to one second as one second is to the age of the universe.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 3 Oct. 2023
  • To study the movement of electrons, the scientists had to use pulses of light that last an attosecond.
    — Katrina Miller, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2023
  • An attosecond is to one second about what one second is to the 14 billion-year age of the universe.
    — Thomas Linker, The Conversation, 15 Oct. 2025
  • In fact, there are approximately as many attoseconds in one second as there are seconds in the age of the universe.
    — Aaron W. Harrison, The Conversation, 4 Oct. 2023
  • Attosecond pulses let physicists detect anything that changes over a span of dozens to hundreds of attoseconds.
    — Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 3 Oct. 2023
  • For many years light pulses were stuck in the femtosecond regime (one femtosecond is 1000 attoseconds).
    — Daniel Garisto, Scientific American, 3 Oct. 2023
  • Researchers have created light pulses lasting just 53 attoseconds using high-speed lasers.
    — David Labrador, Scientific American, 25 Jan. 2012
  • The breakthrough dramatically boosts the power of attosecond light used to probe the fastest electron motions in atoms and materials.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
  • Electron motion unfolds on attosecond timescales, far too fast for conventional instruments to resolve.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 17 Dec. 2025
  • The attosecond pulses stretched only slightly from 90 to 96 attoseconds.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
  • The confirmation marked a new record, pushing attosecond science below what is known as the atomic unit of time, a fundamental threshold in ultrafast physics.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 17 Dec. 2025
  • Optical atomic clocks, which use laser beams to entrap and monitor the atoms, are currently accurate down to 1 attosecond, or one billionth of a billionth of a second.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 15 Oct. 2023
  • This natural inclination of attosecond time structures of electrons could be used to make attosecond x-rays, according to England.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 3 Apr. 2017
  • The scientists were recognized for their experimental methods that create flashes of light that are measured in attoseconds — quintillionths of a second.
    — Andrew Joseph, STAT, 3 Oct. 2023
  • Then, in 2023, the Physics Nobel went to the science of attosecond spectroscopy, which also relies on applications of lasers.
    — Ethan Siegel, Big Think, 7 Aug. 2025
  • One attosecond is one billionth of a billionth of a second (10-18 second) – the ratio of one attosecond to one second is the same as the ratio of one second to the age of the universe.
    — Niranjan Shivaram, The Conversation, 4 Oct. 2023
  • Optical atomic clocks, which use intersecting laser beams to entrap and monitor the atoms, are currently accurate down to 1 attosecond, or a billionth of a billionth of a second.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 25 June 2023
  • Optical atomic clocks, which use intersecting laser beams to entrap and monitor the atoms, are currently accurate down to 1 attosecond, or a billionth of a billionth of a second.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 20 Dec. 2025
  • Using these new attosecond X-ray laser pulses could allow scientists to study the fastest processes in materials at the atomic-length scale and to discern different elements.
    — Thomas Linker, The Conversation, 15 Oct. 2025
  • More power, fewer filters The plasma lens also acted as a natural filter, blocking the longer infrared laser pulses that usually drive attosecond generation.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
  • Mirrors have poor reflectivity and degrade fast, while normal lenses absorb XUV light and stretch the attosecond pulses, blurring their precision.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
  • In a groundbreaking experiment, scientists used extremely short X-ray pulses—lasting only attoseconds (one quintillionth of a second)—to study electron motion.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 6 Apr. 2026
  • Some very important applications The findings could prove especially important for attosecond science, a field focused on observing electron dynamics over timescales measured in billionths of a billionth of a second.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 31 May 2026
  • In realistic conditions, where the pulse colors arrive at slightly different times (a phenomenon known as chirp), the plasma lens even shortened the pulses from 189 to 165 attoseconds.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
  • With simple alignment, tunable focusing, and high transmission, this plasma lens could usher in a new era of attosecond science, from mapping electron motion in complex materials to advancing ultrafast quantum technologies and microscopy.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'attosecond.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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