2025 Nobel Physics: Clarke, Devoret, Martinis Bring Quantum to Our World
Виктория Тевс
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10-11Mia: So, a Nobel Prize in Physics was just awarded for something that sounds like it’s straight out of science fiction. The laureates essentially took the bizarre, almost magical rules of the quantum world and proved they can happen in a system big enough for you to hold in your hand.
Mars: Exactly. We’re talking about John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis. Their work showed that quantum effects aren't just for single, invisible particles. They built a superconducting electrical circuit that could literally tunnel from one state to another, as if it passed straight through a wall. And it didn't stop there; they also showed it absorbs and releases energy in these tiny, specific packets, just like quantum theory predicted.
Mia: So, they basically scaled up the spooky world of quantum mechanics and made it tangible.
Mars: That’s a perfect way to put it. They proved that these quantum effects aren't exclusively confined to the microscopic realm.
Mia: Right. But how on earth did they do that? And what exactly is this tunnelling phenomenon that sounds so completely impossible?
Mars: Well, to really get it, you have to think about the difference between our world and the quantum world. If you throw a ball at a wall, it’s going to bounce back every single time. But in quantum mechanics, a single particle facing a similar barrier can sometimes just… appear on the other side. That’s quantum tunnelling. What Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis did was demonstrate this tunnelling, not just with one particle, but in a macroscopic electrical circuit where billions of particles were all acting together.
Mia: That's wild. It's like expecting that ball you threw to suddenly phase through the living room wall instead of bouncing back. That really drives home why quantum physics seems so bizarre.
Mars: It's completely counter-intuitive to our daily experience. And that's why their experiment was so groundbreaking.
Mia: I see. So they built this special circuit to see the impossible happen. What was the secret ingredient? How did the circuit actually work?
Mars: The setup was incredibly clever. They built a circuit with two superconductors and separated them with a super-thin insulating material. This whole thing is called a Josephson junction. Inside this setup, billions of charged particles, which we call Cooper pairs, started acting in perfect unison, like a single, giant quantum entity.
Mia: A single entity?
Mars: Yes, that's the key. This giant particle was trapped in a state with zero voltage, and normally, it wouldn't have enough energy to get out. But then, through what they called macroscopic quantum tunnelling, the whole system escaped that trap and suddenly generated a measurable voltage. They even confirmed that the system's energy levels were quantized, meaning it could only absorb or release energy in very specific, discrete amounts.
Mia: So by getting all those Cooper pairs to act as one, they could observe a single particle's weird quantum behavior—tunnelling—but on a scale they could actually see and measure in a circuit.
Mars: Precisely. And this isn't just some lab curiosity. The fact that they could reliably cause and measure this tunnelling, and prove the energy quantization in a system with billions of particles, is what really connects the quantum and classical worlds. It shows the fundamental rules of quantum mechanics are way more pervasive than we thought.
Mia: It's like it suggests the absurdity that Schrödinger talked about with his cat-in-a-box thought experiment might not be so absurd after all.
Mars: You’ve nailed it. That's the profound part. While we're still a long way from a quantum cat, this experiment showed that if you can engineer the right kind of macroscopic system, you can see huge numbers of particles collectively obey these weird quantum rules. The line gets blurry.
Mia: Absolutely. This feels like it changes things. It must have huge implications, not just for understanding physics, but for building new technologies, right?
Mars: Oh, definitely. In a way, they created what you could call an artificial atom on a large scale. This gives us a whole new platform for experiments and for developing new quantum tech. For example, John Martinis went on to use this very principle of quantized energy levels to build a quantum bit, or a qubit, which is the fundamental building block of a quantum computer. Their work basically laid the experimental foundation for a lot of the quantum computing race we see today.
Mia: So to wrap this up, what are the absolute key takeaways from this incredible work?
Mars: I'd say there are a few big ones. First, Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis proved that quantum tunnelling, a famously weird phenomenon, can happen in a macroscopic system you can hold. Second, they did it by cleverly engineering a superconducting circuit where billions of particles acted as a single quantum entity. Third, their experiment was a clear confirmation of energy quantization on a large scale, which is a cornerstone of quantum mechanics. And finally, all of this bridges the gap between the microscopic and macroscopic worlds, opening the door for real-world quantum technologies like quantum computers.