We are witnessing the dawn of an era of quantum computing, artificial intelligence and self-driving cars that is already yielding huge demand for a fast information processing. Today‘s fastest memory devices use  processes that occur at 10-11 second  timescale, yet  in the lab it is possible to study systems that undergo phase change much faster (10-15-10-13 sec = femtosecond timescale) which could become basis for new memory devices or improve our understanding of emergent and self-organisation phenomena in condensed matter, or even beyond.

References: Yusupov, Roman, et al., Nature Physics 6.9 (2010): 681; Stojchevska, L., et al.Science 344.6180 (2014); Naseska, M., et al., Phys. Rev. B 98, 035148 (2018).