Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger receive the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics for their advances in quantum mechanics

First modification: 04/10/2022 – 13:38

The annual round of distinctions for the prestigious Nobel Prize continued this Tuesday, October 4, with the recognition of a trio of scientists who took research in the quantum field to another level.

The winners were the Austrian Anton Zeilingier, the French Alain Aspect and the American John Clauser, who developed works on the power of quantum mechanics and whose results opened an era for new technologies in the field that “give access to tools with unexpected potential ”, as cataloged by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

The prestigious entity described that the winners “carried out innovative experiments using entangled quantum states.” The development of experimental elements of this trinomial marks a “new era of quantum technology”.

It is about having the ability to “manipulate and manage quantum states and all their layers of properties”. The development of this field “is beginning to find applications” with new elements, the Institute added, including quantum computers, quantum networks and secure encrypted communication.

On a more technical note, Karolinska explained that this year’s prize was decided for the entangled photon experiments that established “the violation of Bell’s inequalities” and transformed scientists into “pioneers in quantum information science.” .

Quantum mechanics allows two or more particles to exist in a framework called an “entangled state.” That is, what happens to one particle determines what happens to the other.

Zeilinger and his research team demonstrated a “phenomenon called quantum teleportation.” This makes it possible to “move a quantum state from one particle to another at a distance”, detailed the Swedish academy.

For its part, Aspect lifted a configuration “to close an important loophole.” What he did was modify the “measurement after an interlaced pair left its source” so that the pre-existing setting could not affect the result.

While Clauser built a device that emitted two entangled photons simultaneously, where each one made a filter that tested its polarization. This violated Bell’s inequality and coincided with the guidelines of quantum mechanics.

This trinomial joins Svante Pääbo, winner of the Medicine prize on Monday for his studies in human evolution, and they will continue with those of Chemistry, Literature, Peace and Economics.

With EFE and Reuters