Anne L'Huillier (born 1958 in Paris) is a French physicist, and professor of

atomic physics Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned wit ...

at Lund University in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Life

L'Huillier first pursued an education and was awarded a Master of Science in theoretical physics and

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, but switched for her PhD to experimental physics at the French nuclear research center of the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives in

Saclay Nuclear Research Centre The CEA Paris-Saclay (formerly CEA Saclay) center is one of nine centers belonging to the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). The Saclay site hosts the administrative headquarters of the CEA. Historically, it was the he ...

. Her dissertation was on multiple ionization in laser fields of high intensity. As a post-doctoral student, she was in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

and Los Angeles, California, United States. From 1986, she was permanently employed at the Saclay Nuclear Research Centre. In 1992, she took part in an experiment in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

, where one of the first titanium-sapphire solid-state laser systems for

femtosecond A femtosecond is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to 10 or of a second; that is, one quadrillionth, or one millionth of one billionth, of a second. For context, a femtosecond is to a second as a second is to about 31. ...

pulses in Europe had been installed. In 1994 she moved to Sweden, where she served at Lund University as a lecturer in 1995 and a professor in 1997. She leads an

attosecond physics Attosecond physics, also known as attophysics, or more generally attosecond science, is a branch of physics that deals with light-matter interaction phenomena wherein attosecond (10−18 s) photon pulses are used to unravel dynamical processes in ...

group which studies the movements of electrons in real time, which is used to understand the chemical reactions on the atomic level. In 2003 she and her group beat the world record with the smallest laser pulse of 170

attosecond An attosecond (symbol as) is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to 1×10−18 of a second (one quintillionth of a second). For comparison, an attosecond is to a second what a second is to about 31.71 billion years.

s. L'Huillier was on the Nobel Committee for Physics between 2007 and 2015, and has been a member of the

Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

since 2004. In 2003, she received the

Julius Springer Prize The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the c ...

. In 2011 she received a

UNESCO L'Oréal Award The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

. In 2013, she was awarded the , the Blaise Pascal Medal and an Honorary Degree at Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris. She was elected a foreign associate of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2018. One year later, in 2019, she was recognized with the Prize for Fundamental Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics, announced by the European Physical Society. Anne L'Huillier is a fellow member of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

and the Optical Society. In 2021 L'Huillier was awarded the Optical Society of America Max Born Award for "pioneering work in ultrafast laser science and attosecond physics, realizing and understanding high harmonic generation and applying it to time-resolved imaging of electron motion in atoms and molecules". In 2022 she received the Wolf Prize in PhysicsWolf Prize in Physics 2022
/ref> for "pioneering contributions to ultrafast laser science and attosecond physics".

Works

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:L'Huillier, Anne 1958 births Living people Scientists from Paris Academic staff of Lund University French physicists L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Fellows of Optica (society) Women in optics Fellows of the American Physical Society French women physicists