COME CATTURARE NEL TEMPO GLI EVENTI PRIMARI DI PROCESSI NATURALI: I LASER AD IMPULSI ULTRABREVI

This paper presents a brief review of the modern laser technologies that enable to generate light pulses lasting “a few optical cycles” and tunable over large spectral ranges, thus allowing to follow the evolution of extraordinarily fast dynamical processes. In particular, we will describe the results obtained from the studies of the primary events of two important processes in nature involving the absorption of light, namely vision and photosynthesis. These events last for extremely short times and trigger the corresponding overall processes. The study of these events is important both for fundamental reasons and for the design of artificial molecular systems of high efficiency to be used for new devices in the field of artificial vision and of photovoltaics.