BERLIN (TIP): Scientists, including one of Indianorigin , have devised a new technique to boil water in less than a trillionth of a second. The theoretical concept, which has not yet been demonstrated in practice , could heat a small amount of water by as much as 600° C in just half a picosecond (a trillionth of a second). That is much less than the proverbial blink of an eye: one picosecond is to a second what one second is to almost 32 millennia.

This would make the technique the fastest waterheating method on Earth. All it takes for superfast water heating is a concentrated flash of terahertz radiation. Terahertz radiation consists of electromagnetic waves with a frequency between radio waves and infrared. Terahertz flashes can be generated with devices called free-electron lasers that send accelerated electrons on a well defined slalom course. The particles emit electromagnetic waves in each bend that add up to an intense laser like pulse. The terahertz pulse changes the strength of the interaction between water molecules in a very short time, which immediately start to vibrate violently.