Brilliant Source of 19.2-Attosecond Soft X-ray Pulses below the Atomic Unit of Time - Science Partner Journals

Electrons move so quickly inside atoms and molecules that studying their behavior requires flashes of light lasting just a fraction of a billionth of a billionth of a second. Now, scientists have found a way to concentrate these ultrashort X-ray flashes into a tiny spot, making them more powerful at the point where they hit a sample.

We’re sharing this article early to provide faster access to peer-reviewed, accepted research. It is citable and carries a permanent DOI. This version is subject to further edits and will be replaced automatically by the final Version of Record. All legal disclaimers apply. AbstractWe demonstrate a mechanism for the deterministic nucleation of magnetic hopfions in cylindrical nanopillars via transient magnetic field pulses. By exploiting a chiral magnetic cylinder with engineered surface uniaxial anisotropy, we show that field pulses trigger a non-equilibrium magnetization dynamics. Depending on the pulse amplitude, the system relaxes into distinct topologically protected energy minima, stabilizing either isolated hopfions or coexisting states with other three-dimensional solitons. This approach offers a framework for manipulating 3D topological textures without requiring localized spin-polarized currents, broadening the understanding of three-dimensional nanomagnetism.

Researchers used the European XFEL to create X-ray flashes that were not only extremely short but also reached record intensity for this type of pulse. The researchers focused the X-rays to an area roughly 100,000 times smaller than the cross section of a typical human hair. This concentrated the X-ray light into a tiny but extremely powerful spot. The method could enable detailed studies of how electrons behave in atoms and molecules and, in the long term, could even allow researchers to control electrons during chemical reactions. The team has now published the results of the experiment, carried out in April 2026, in the journal Optica.