Physics Nobel goes to Serge Haroche and David Wineland

Serge Haroche (left) is based at the College de France and David Wineland is based at the US National Institute for Standards and Technology

This year's Nobel prize in physics has been awarded to two researchers for their work with light and matter at the most fundamental level. Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the US will share the prize, worth 8m Swedish kronor (£750,000; $1.2m). Their "quantum optics" work on single photons and charged atoms has opened up a whole new field of study in physics. It could lead to advanced modes of communication and computation.

Light and matter, when the minuscule scales of single particles are reached, behave in surprising ways in a part of physics known as quantum mechanics. Working with light and matter on this level was unthinkable before the pair developed solutions to pick, manipulate and measure photons and ions individually, allowing an insight into a microscopic world that was once just the province of scientific theory.

The prize is the second in quantum optics in recent years.

Professor Serge Haroche was reached by phone from the press conference. He was told that he won Nobel prize in physics. Later he told the reporters: "I was lucky - I was in the street and passing near a bench, so I was able to sit down immediately.

Dr Wineland's work uses an "ion trap" in which charged particles are tested using light.

"I was walking with my wife going back home and when I saw the Swedish code on the phone, I realised it was real and it's, you know, really overwhelming."

Prof Sir Peter Knight of the UK's Institute of Physics, said: "Haroche and Wineland have made tremendous advances in our understanding of quantum entanglement, with beautiful experiments to show how atomic systems can be manipulated to exhibit the most extraordinary coherence properties."

The Nobel prizes have been given out annually since 1901, covering the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics. The first-ever Nobel prize in physics was awarded to Wilhelm Roentgen of Germany for his discovery of X-rays, and with this year's winners the total number of recipients has reached 194.

On Monday, the 8th, prize for medicine or physiology was awarded to John Gurdon from the UK and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan for changing adult cells into stem cells, which can become any other type of cell in the body. This year's chemistry prize was announced on Wednesday, with the literature and peace prizes to be awarded later in the week.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 891