A team of researchers from the University of Ottawa has made significant strides in understanding the ionization of atoms and molecules, a fundamental process in physics that has implications for various fields including X-ray generation and plasma physics.

The research, titled “Orbital angular momentum control of strong-field ionization in atoms and molecules,” is published in Nature Communications.

Think about atoms—the building blocks of everything around us. Sometimes, they lose their electrons and become charged particles (that’s ionization). It happens in lightning, in plasma TVs, and even in the northern lights. Until now, scientists thought they could only control this process in limited ways.