The Nobel Prize 2022 in Physics goes to Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for experiments with entangled photons

Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger got ‘The Nobel Prize 2022’ in ‘Physics’ “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.”

John Clauser, Alain Aspect, and Anton Zeilinger have done groundbreaking experiments on entangled quantum states, where two particles behave like a single unit even when they are separated and very far away from each other. Their results will change the future of new technology based on quantum information.
The use of quantum physics will be multifold in the coming years. The ineffable effects of quantum mechanics are starting to find applications. Currently, people are working in a large field of research that includes quantum networks, quantum computers, and secure quantum encrypted communication.

One key focus in this development is how quantum mechanics allows two or more particles to exist in what is called an entangled state. How nature and behaviour are changed to one of the particles in an entangled pair determines what happens to the other particle, even if they are far apart.

For a long time, the question was whether the correlation was because the particles that are in an entangled pair contained hidden variables, instructions that tell them which result they should give in an experiment. In the 1960s, John Stewart Bell developed the mathematical inequality that is named after him. This condition is if there are hidden variables, the correlation between the results of a large number of measurements will never exceed a certain value. However, quantum theory predicts that a certain type of experiment will violate Bell’s inequality, thus resulting in a stronger correlation than would otherwise be possible.
John Clauser developed John Bell’s ideas, leading to a practical experiment. When he took the measurements, they supported quantum mechanics by clearly violating a Bell inequality. This means that quantum mechanics cannot be replaced by a theory that uses hidden variables.

A few loopholes still remain after John Clauser’s experiment. Alain Aspect developed the setup, using it in a way that closed an important loophole. He was able to switch the measurement settings after an entangled pair had left its source, so the setting that existed when they were emitted could not affect the result.
Using refined tools and long series of experiments, Anton Zeilinger started to use entangled quantum states. Among other things, his research group has demonstrated a phenomenon called quantum teleportation, which makes it possible to move a quantum state from one particle to one at a distance.

Anders Irbäck, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics says
“It has become increasingly clear that a new kind of quantum technology is emerging. We can see that the laureates’ work with entangled states is of great importance, even beyond the fundamental questions about the interpretation of quantum mechanics,”

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