Colloquium: Attosecond Quantum Dynamics—From Electron Motion to Material Function
CIC nanoGUNE
Date:
19 October, 2026
Hour:
11:00
Location:
CIC nanoGUNE Seminar room, Tolosa Hiribidea 76, Donostia-San Sebastian
How do electrons turn a flash of light into a change in a material’s properties? Answering this question requires following the interplay of electronic excitation, many-body interactions and coupling to the lattice as it unfolds. Attosecond spectroscopy opens a window onto these otherwise hidden dynamics.
In this colloquium, I will introduce how we generate attosecond soft-X-ray pulses and use them to track electronic dynamics and energy flow in materials. Examples from our work will show how time- and energy-resolved measurements disentangle the response to the light field, carrier relaxation and energy transfer to the lattice. The aim is to move beyond observing that a material changes to understanding what drives that change—and explore how this knowledge could help us steer material properties with light.
Jens Biegert is ICREA Research Professor at ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences, where he leads the Attoscience and Ultrafast Optics group. His research combines ultrafast laser physics, attosecond spectroscopy and quantum dynamics to investigate how electrons and nuclei interact in molecules and solids, with applications spanning chemical dynamics and materials science.
He received his PhD in Physics from the Technical University of Munich in 2001, following research at the University of New Mexico, and subsequently worked at ETH Zürich before joining ICFO in 2007. His group has pioneered mid-infrared photonics, attosecond soft-X-ray sources and laser-induced electron diffraction, enabling new approaches to resolving molecular transformations and electronic dynamics in materials.
Biegert is a Fellow of Optica and the American Physical Society and was elected to Academia Europaea in 2026. His distinctions include Optica’s 2026 C.E.K. Mees Medal, the Bessel Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and ERC Advanced and Proof of Concept grants. He has served on Optica’s Board of Directors and as Executive Director of Laserlab-Europe.