Three US-based scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for a series of 1980s experiments that helped develop ¡°the next generation of quantum technology¡±.

The British physicist John Clarke, based at the University of California at Berkeley; Michel Devoret, a French physicist at Yale University; and American physicist John Martinis of the University of California, Santa Barbara were honoured ¡°for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit¡±.

¡°To put it mildly, it was the surprise of my life,¡± Clarke said at a press conference announcing the award. It ¡°had not occurred to us in any way¡± that their work could win them a Nobel Prize, he said, describing the contributions of Devoret and Martinis as ¡°just overwhelming¡±.

Olle Eriksson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, :?¡°It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the way that century-old quantum mechanics continually offers new surprises.¡±

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¡°It is also enormously useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology,¡± Eriksson said.

In 1984 and 1985, Clarke, Devoret and Martinis performed a series of experiments on an electronic circuit comprising superconductors and non-conductive material, studying ¡°the phenomena that arose when they passed a current through it¡±.

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The physicists successfully demonstrated ¡°both quantum mechanical tunnelling and quantised energy levels in a system big enough to be held in the hand¡±, the Nobel committee said in a press release.

They will share a prize of 11 million Swedish kroner (?870,000).

The University of Cambridge, where Clarke completed both his undergraduate studies and his PhD, .?Mete Atat¨¹re, head of the university¡¯s Cavendish Laboratory, said: ¡°I¡¯m of course thrilled with today¡¯s well-deserved announcement.¡±

¡°John Clarke, together with Michel Devoret and John Martinis, pushed the door open for today¡¯s quantum technologies based on superconducting qubits, putting fundamental quantum phenomena?at work in real devices,¡± Atat¨¹re said.

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emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com