Context
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis for discovering macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in superconducting electric circuits.
Scientific Significance
- Quantum tunnelling enables particles to penetrate energy barriers despite insufficient classical energy.
- The laureates proved this phenomenon also occurs in macroscopic systems—visible electric circuits—showing that quantum laws apply to large-scale matter.
- Using superconducting Josephson junctions, they observed Cooper-pair tunnelling and discrete energy levels in circuits, bridging the microscopic–macroscopic divide.
Technological Impact
- Laid the groundwork for superconducting qubits, the dominant platform in quantum computing.
- Advanced quantum sensors and precision measurement technologies.
- Deepened understanding of quantum decoherence, key for stable quantum information processing.