Attosecond light pulses can be used to observe and manipulate the electronic motion within atoms and molecules, thus helping scientists to gain a deeper understanding of chemical reactions, electronic structures, and molecular dynamics.

Based on siliceous clay and calcareous wood ash, the world’s first high-fired glazes were made in China, the technology of which was at its zenith by the Song Dynasty (960-1279) including blackware glazes with single-phase, micron-scale ε-Fe₂O₃ films identified on their surfaces. However, modern synthetic methods are still difficult to synthesize and reproduce the effects on a larger scale without other iron oxide polymorph impurities.

Generation of intense, tunable, and fully coherent pulses in the X-ray regime has been a long-standing challenge for laser technologies. The urgent need for intense X-ray light sources has prompted the development of X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs). However, most of the presently existing X-ray FEL facilities are faced with limited temporal coherence and large shot-to-shot fluctuations.