07.10.2025, 21:25
The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for a discovery in quantum mechanics
Source: OREANDA-NEWS
OREANDA-NEWS The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2025 has been awarded to John Clark, Michel Devore and John Martinis, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced. The prize was awarded "for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and quantization of energy in an electrical circuit." More information about the work of scientists can be found in the press release of the Nobel Committee.
The press release notes that the most important issue of modern physics is the issue of the maximum size of a system capable of demonstrating quantum mechanical effects. This year's Nobel laureates conducted experiments with an electrical circuit that demonstrated the quantum mechanical tunneling effect and energy levels in a system large enough to be held in one's hands.
"It's wonderful to see how quantum mechanics, an age–old theory, continues to bring new surprises. It is also extremely useful because quantum mechanics is the basis of digital technologies," said Olle Eriksson, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics.
According to the press release, the achievements for which the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded this year make it possible to develop the next generation of quantum technologies, including quantum cryptography, computers and sensors. Together, the laureates' work has transformed quantum computing from a purely academic discipline into a rapidly developing technological field.
Quantum tunneling is an effect in which quantum particles can pass through barriers whose height is greater than the energy of the particles. This is a kind of passage of an object through a wall. Thanks to it, quantum systems can transition from one state to another, more advantageous one, even if a smooth transition between these states requires passing through a high-energy intermediate state - a "hill" - and the energy of the system is obviously not enough to reach this intermediate state. This process is impossible in classical mechanics, but it is allowed in quantum mechanics. The probability that a particle will be able to pass an energy barrier depends on the height of this barrier, the initial energy of the particle, and other system parameters. With a large number of particles, the quantum mechanical effects usually become insignificant.
The experiments of the laureates have shown that quantum mechanical properties can be specified on a large scale. In 1984 and 1985, John Clark, Michel Devore and John Martinis conducted experiments with an electronic circuit built of superconductors, components capable of conducting current without electrical resistance. In the circuit, the superconducting components were separated by a thin insulating layer (such a contact between two superconductors is called a Josephson junction). By measuring the various properties of the circuit, physicists were able to control and investigate the phenomena that occur when current is passed through it. The charged particles passing through the superconductor formed a system that behaved as if they were a single particle filling the entire circuit.
This macroscopic system, like a single particle, is initially in a state in which current flows without voltage. The system is trapped in this state, as if behind a barrier that it cannot overcome. In the experiment, the system exhibits its quantum nature by overcoming the zero-voltage state through tunneling. A change in the state of the system is registered by the appearance of voltage.
The laureates also managed to show that the system behaves as predicted by quantum mechanics – it is quantized, that is, it absorbs or emits only a certain amount of energy.
Clark was born in 1942 in Cambridge, United Kingdom. He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge; currently, he is a professor of experimental physics at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. In 2012, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. His scientific career was devoted to experimental physics, and it was he who made the breakthrough by perfecting one of the most sensitive scientific instruments in the world, the SQUID (superconducting quantum interferometer).
The press release notes that the most important issue of modern physics is the issue of the maximum size of a system capable of demonstrating quantum mechanical effects. This year's Nobel laureates conducted experiments with an electrical circuit that demonstrated the quantum mechanical tunneling effect and energy levels in a system large enough to be held in one's hands.
"It's wonderful to see how quantum mechanics, an age–old theory, continues to bring new surprises. It is also extremely useful because quantum mechanics is the basis of digital technologies," said Olle Eriksson, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics.
According to the press release, the achievements for which the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded this year make it possible to develop the next generation of quantum technologies, including quantum cryptography, computers and sensors. Together, the laureates' work has transformed quantum computing from a purely academic discipline into a rapidly developing technological field.
Quantum tunneling is an effect in which quantum particles can pass through barriers whose height is greater than the energy of the particles. This is a kind of passage of an object through a wall. Thanks to it, quantum systems can transition from one state to another, more advantageous one, even if a smooth transition between these states requires passing through a high-energy intermediate state - a "hill" - and the energy of the system is obviously not enough to reach this intermediate state. This process is impossible in classical mechanics, but it is allowed in quantum mechanics. The probability that a particle will be able to pass an energy barrier depends on the height of this barrier, the initial energy of the particle, and other system parameters. With a large number of particles, the quantum mechanical effects usually become insignificant.
The experiments of the laureates have shown that quantum mechanical properties can be specified on a large scale. In 1984 and 1985, John Clark, Michel Devore and John Martinis conducted experiments with an electronic circuit built of superconductors, components capable of conducting current without electrical resistance. In the circuit, the superconducting components were separated by a thin insulating layer (such a contact between two superconductors is called a Josephson junction). By measuring the various properties of the circuit, physicists were able to control and investigate the phenomena that occur when current is passed through it. The charged particles passing through the superconductor formed a system that behaved as if they were a single particle filling the entire circuit.
This macroscopic system, like a single particle, is initially in a state in which current flows without voltage. The system is trapped in this state, as if behind a barrier that it cannot overcome. In the experiment, the system exhibits its quantum nature by overcoming the zero-voltage state through tunneling. A change in the state of the system is registered by the appearance of voltage.
The laureates also managed to show that the system behaves as predicted by quantum mechanics – it is quantized, that is, it absorbs or emits only a certain amount of energy.
Clark was born in 1942 in Cambridge, United Kingdom. He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge; currently, he is a professor of experimental physics at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. In 2012, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. His scientific career was devoted to experimental physics, and it was he who made the breakthrough by perfecting one of the most sensitive scientific instruments in the world, the SQUID (superconducting quantum interferometer).
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