Nobel Laureates in Physics for Quantum Information.

Anton Zeilinger has been one of the most enthusiastic and daring physicists in the field, a pioneer in the experimental demonstration of fundamental protocols for information management such as teleportation and cryptography guaranteed by the laws of physics in the 1990s. A couple of decades later, Zeilinger continues with his scientific audacity carrying out experiments like the one that establishes a quantum communication channel between the islands of La Palma and Tenerife in the Canary Islands, and even further between satellites, to quantumly connect any point on the planet's surface. John Clauser is a close theoretician and old acquaintance of Zeilinger with whom he shares the merits of the study of quantum correlations in the 90s which helped to understand why the microscopic world is so different to us from the macroscopic world.

Alain Aspect is a scientific heir and perpetuator of the French school of quantum physics from which several Nobel Prize winners have emerged, such as Claude Cohen-Tanoudji (1997) or Serge Haroche (2012). Alain Aspect was the first to experimentally demonstrate a violation of the famous Bell inequalities in 1982 when no one was even talking about Quantum Information or Computation. However, clearly, this has not been the only feat of this influential physicist of our times. It is worth mentioning that John Bell, the creator of the inequalities demonstrated by Alain Aspect, is considered by many to be as important as the and probably would be part of this list if alive.

The Nobel recognition in this area strongly promotes a technological sector in full swing. Corporate giants such as Google or IBM are already part and no one wants to be left out. The Catalan capital stands out in the European quantum scene with various companies in the sector and the future quantum computer that will be installed in the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. In the words of the chairman of the Nobel Physics committee, "It is becoming increasingly clear that a new kind of quantum technology is emerging."

At the Ramon Llull University Quantum Technologies Observatory, we receive this news with great interest with the certainty that many other important events are yet to come.

Author: Osvaldo Jiménez Ph.D. / Full time professor La Salle Campus Ramon Llull University