Overview
- The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis for demonstrating tunnelling and discrete energy levels in an electric circuit.
- Their one‑centimeter superconducting chip with a Josephson junction showed a zero‑voltage state escaping via quantum tunnelling and absorbing energy only in discrete amounts.
- The committee said the work opened paths for next‑generation quantum technologies, including secure communications, quantum computers, and high‑precision sensors.
- Clarke is affiliated with the University of California, Berkeleyt Devoret with Yale University (and UC Santa Barbara); and Martinis with UC Santa Barbara.
- The trio will receive medals, diplomas and a shared 11 million SEK award at the Nobel ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.