The pursuit of ever-shorter time scales is a frontier in modern physics,
exemplified by the synthesis of attosecond light pulses — an achievement made
possible by coherently superimposing a broad range of photon energies, as
required by the uncertainty principle. However, extending this progress into
the zeptosecond regime poses significant challenges, as it demands
phase-correlated optical spectra spanning hundreds of electronvolts. In this
context, electrons offer a compelling alternative to light because they can be
coherently manipulated to form broad energy superpositions, as demonstrated by
the generation of attosecond pulses in ultrafast electron microscopes. Here, we
propose a practical scheme for compressing free electrons into the zeptosecond
domain by modulating their wave functions using suitably tailored broadband
light fields. Building on recent advances in {free-electron–light–matter}
interactions, our method introduces the concept of temporal lensing — an
extension of conventional optical lensing to the time domain — to produce
electron pulses with arbitrarily short durations.

Este artículo explora los viajes en el tiempo y sus implicaciones.

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