You are currently reading the latest issue of our a t t o w o r l d - magazine “pulse”. I am particularly pleased that so many former members of the a t t o w o r l d - team have contributedto this publication. Matthias Uiberacker, for example, looks back on the early days of attosecond physics when Ferenc Krausz and his group at the Vienna University of Technology generated the first attosecond flashes of light in 2001. Matthias was a young doctoral student at the time. This naturally gave him a very special perspective on the pioneering experiments of his long-established colleagues. It was an exciting time that laid the foundation for the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics, which Ferenc Krausz received in 2023. Shawn Sederberg invites you to visit Canada and get an idea of his work there in a very personal article. And finally, Marcus Ossiander reports on his research into meta-optics.

Our magazine thrives on the diversity of expertise of the group members, who have once again gone to great lengths to contribute exciting articles in this issue. Artificial intelligence is covered as well as topics from the fields of medicine, optics and, of course, ultrafast physics. There is also a colorful potpourri of hopefully entertaining and exciting articles from the editors of the PR-team.

We wish you an entertaining read and hope you enjoy browsing through the new magazine

Welcome to the latest issue of “pulse”, the magazine of the  attoworld team. As you browse through this issue, one thing will be sure to strike you: The range of topics covered in the articles has reached an enormous breadth.

We have attracted a wide variety of authors to contribute to this publication. Starting with our core business, attosecond physics, through medical issues, to artificial intelligence. But art and culture in connection with the natural sciences are also a topic, as is the communication of science by our school laboratory PhotonLab, which now inspires even school beginners for physics with a specially designed audio play. Likewise, we naturally want to keep them up to date on our aid activities in Ukraine, as the article on the “Science 4 People” initiative founded by Ferenc Krausz and his team shows. All of this adds up to a broad spectrum that our authors deal with. And they are all part of the attoworld  team.

This shows us once again that a colorful mix is the quintessence. Ultrafast laser science combines the most diverse disciplines in our group. Here, laser physicists work together with biologists, chemists, and IT professionals. They are supported by a great administrative team, by an extremely skilled technical team, as well as by PR- and knowledge transfer experts.

We have all come up against them – the challenges that test us to the limit – where success seems highly unlikely, if not wholly unattainable. But instead of throwing in the towel in such situations, it’s a good idea to step back and take stock. For centuries, humanity’s desire to know has proven again and again that what at first seemed impossible is in fact feasible. The essence of science is its ability to find ways of extending the limits of the possible. A willingness to set ambitious goals, explore unorthodox ideas and ignore conventions can serve as a powerful motivator. It can open up unexpected routes to new insights, even when the final outcome remains in doubt. The history of the Natural Sciences has repeatedly demonstrated that obstacles can be overcome, provided one has the required tenacity and open mindedness. Whether one regards a given task as ‘impossible’ or ‘perhaps feasible’ is often a matter of imagination. If one opts for the latter alternative, it helps to think outside the box, question accepted models, reconsider the fundamentals and seek unconventional solutions that no one else has hit upon. We take pride in the fact that, as members of the ATTOWORLD team, we have the opportunity to probe the limits of the possible. How can we control the behaviour of light with even greater precision? How far can we push the limits of ultrashort-pulse spectroscopy in practice? What sorts of applications might such advances make possible – which may now seem illusory, but might well have a significant impact on our future? In their contribution to this issue of pulse, Ioachim Pupeza, Alexander Weigel and Kafai Mak provide insights into their work at the forefront of laser physics. In this spirit, we urge you to nurture your sense of wonder and thirst for knowledge. Have the daring to make a difference in your quest to discover what lies beyond the current frontiers of laser physics, and help to shape our common future.

When the MAP Cluster of Excellence – and its popular staff magazine “Am Puls” – came to an end, we decided to publish an English-language successor in a slightly different form, and under a slightly different title. In its new guise, “pulse” will feature stories about all kinds of activities at Attoworld, uniting teams of and events relating to our Attoworld ‘family’ which now unites the teams of the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, of the LMU Chair of Experimental Physics – Laser Physics, and of the LMU Centre for Advanced Laser Applications (CALA). Our ‘family’ also closely collaborates with researchers from the Center for Molecular Fingerprinting (CMF, see article on page 10), clinics of the LMU and the Helmholtz Zentrum München in the Lasers 4 Life (L4L) collaboration.

In these pages readers will find reports and invited contributions on advances in the field of ultrafast phenomena in physics, together with features that focus on the lives and experiences of members of our current attoworld ‘family’, as well as the laboratory’s many alumni around the world. We have always been an international team, and many former members who worked with us in Garching have moved on to positions elsewhere. Indeed, one of the aims of this new publication is to maintain contact with these far-flung colleagues and provide them with a forum that enables to keep us up to date on their research and their professional careers.

A magazine such as this is highly dependent on the commitment of the editorial team and on active feedback from its readers. We would be delighted to hear of any suggestions or information you may have, not only in relation to the field of laser physics, but also to newsworthy items concerning the doings of Attoworld members outside of the laboratory. We hope that – true to its title – “pulse” will become a vibrant source of information that provides a lively and engaging chronicle of the whole spectrum of Attoworld’s activities.

We hope you enjoy what we have to offer in this first issue.