2022 Nobel Prize in Physics For Three Scientists of "Quantum Theory"

 

Photo: Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger Nobel Prize winners Physics 2022

The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to researchers in quantum information Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger. The three scientists are known as the fathers of quantum information, having contributed to the development of new technology such as quantum computers or quantum encrypted security.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Tuesday that the scientists were awarded the prize for groundbreaking studies in quantum mechanics, a field of physics that investigates the behavior of tiny particles such as atoms, electrons and photons. "The findings laid the groundwork for a new era of quantum technology," the committee said. “Being able to manipulate and manage quantum states and all their layers of properties gives us access to tools with unexpected potential,” he added.

 

Aspect, Clauser and Zeilinger's experiments were around so-called "quantum entanglement", a physical phenomenon in which two subatomic particles – much smaller than atoms – behave as a single unit. This study demonstrated a technological potential to investigate and control these particles in these entangled states, which, in the future, could create computers and telecommunication systems that are impossible to hack.

 

Aspect, professor at Université Paris-Saclay and École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France; Clauser, a research physicist at the J.F. Clauser & Assoc., in the USA; and Zeilinger, a professor at the University of Vienna, Austria, will share the prize totaling 10 million Swedish kronor (approximately R$4.8 million).

 

The Nobel jury in Physics highlights their work on "experiments with entangled photons, instituting the violation of [John] Bell's inequalities and becoming pioneers in quantum information science." Each of these three researchers gave a first impetus to the application of quantum mechanics in a new scientific field – which includes the famous quantum computing.

Sources: Publico.pt and Express