Frenchman Serge Haroche and American David Wineland (both 68) opened the
door to new experiments in quantum physics by showing how to observe
individual quantum particles while preserving their quantum properties.
A quantum particle is one that is isolated from everything else. In this
situation, an atom or electron or photon takes on strange properties.
It can be in two places at once, for example. It behaves in some ways
like a wave. But these properties are instantly changed when it
interacts with something else, such as when somebody observes it.
Working separately, the two scientists developed “ingenious laboratory
methods” that allowed them to manage and measure and control fragile
quantum states, said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. “Their
ground-breaking methods have enabled this field of research to take the
very first steps towards building a new type of superfast computer based
on quantum physics,” said the academy. “The research has also led to
the construction of extremely precise clocks that could become the
future basis for a new standard of time.”
The two researchers use opposite approaches to examine, control and count quantum particles, said the academy.
Mr. Wineland traps ions electrically charged atoms and measures them
with light, while Mr. Haroche controls and measures photons, or light
particles.
In an ordinary computer, information is represented in bits, each of
which is either a zero or a one. But in a quantum computer, an
individual particle can essentially represent a zero and a one at the
same time. Making such particles work together, certain kinds of
calculations could be done with blazing speed.
One example is the factoring, the process of discovering what numbers
can be multiplied together to produce a given number. Quantum computers
could radically change people’s lives in the way that classical
computers did last century, but a full-scale quantum computer is still
decades away, the Nobel judges said.