Members of PQI Advisory Board awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics
The PQI - Portuguese Quantum Institute congratulates the members of its Advisory Board, Prof. Alain Aspect and Prof. Anton Zeilinger, for being awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Their pioneering research and discoveries have not only shed light on fundamental aspects of Quantum Physics, but have also launched the development of Quantum Technologies, a new paradigm of information technology that opens the prospect of much faster computers than today, bug-proof communications, and sensors capable of detecting diseases at earlier stages.
Quantum Physics was developed around 100 years ago, in the 1920s, and makes it possible to describe and predict the behaviour of matter and radiation on an atomic and sub-atomic scale. Thanks to this knowledge, it has been possible to develop revolutionary technologies that we now consider commonplace, such as microelectronics, lasers, magnetic resonance imaging, etc.
However, several aspects of quantum physics remain mysterious. As early as 1935, Albert Einstein, together with Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, questioned quantum theory, namely quantum entanglement, and the seemingly magical effect where the observation of one system can instantaneously affect the outcome of the observation of a different system at a great distance.
The experiments carried out in the 1970s and 1990s by John Clauser in the USA, Alain Aspect in France and Anton Zeilinger in Austria led to the conclusion that quantum theory is correct, and that Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen were wrong.
But the critique by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen was fundamental in raising the debate about the nature of entanglement. A debate which for some decades also had a philosophical character, and which John Bell, a theoretical physicist from Northern Ireland, formulated in 1964 as a scientific question, testable in the laboratory.
It was Bell's discovery that motivated the pioneering experiments by John Clauser, Alain Aspect, and Anton Zeilinger, allowing us to start looking at entanglement as an integral and unquestionable part of quantum physics.
And also as a resource for new technologies. Quantum entanglement is at the basis of the current second quantum revolution: the ability to encode information in quantum systems, and the consequent emergence of quantum computing, quantum internet, and quantum metrology and sensors.
Quantum Technologies may revolutionise the information society in which we live, and also have sovereignty implications.
Currently, this scientific area motivates investments of billions of Euros in Europe, USA, China and other parts of the world. Notably, the European Commission launched in 2018 the Flagship in Quantum Technologies, a 10-year programme to make Europe one of the world leaders in these emerging technologies.
The Instituto Superior Técnico was a pioneer in Portugal in this scientific area, developing research in this subject since 2002. In the last 20 years, it has developed several research projects, as well as new curricular units, a PhD programme, and participates in the first European master's degree dedicated to this subject, the DigiQ - Digitally Enhanced European Quantum Technology Master, launched in October 2022.
All these activities are developed in international collaborations. Prof. Anton Zeilinger visited the Instituto Superior Técnico twice, in 2005 and in 2017.
Recently, the PQI - Portuguese Quantum Institute was created to aggregate the national critical mass in this strategic scientific area, and develop research, innovation, training, and scientific dissemination in the field of Quantum Technologies. The PQI is involved in 4 European projects, and in the coordination of the Flagship in Quantum Technologies programme of the European Commission.
In 2021, PQI - Portuguese Quantum Institute launched, with colleagues from more than 65 countries, the World Quantum Day, 14th April, with the launch event being an online lecture by Prof. Alain Aspect.
In 2022, the PQI - Portuguese Quantum Institute launched the initiative Quantum@Museum, to develop scientific dissemination in art and history museums, namely by showing the role that Quantum Physics has in the study of archaeological objects and works of art. The pilot project was developed in partnership with the Gulbenkian Museum and inaugurated on the occasion of World Quantum Day in 2022.
Image: From Tt News Agency/Reuters
2022-10-04