Page 13 - EngineerIT Nov-Dec 2025

QUANTUM PHYSICS

The laureates could also demonstrate particle confined inside a nucleus
that the system behaves in the tunnel through a potential barrier.
manner predicted by quantum Tunnelling also explains why
mechanics – it is quantised, meaning radioactive decay is probabilistic. It
Professor John Clarke
that it only absorbs or emits specific is also necessary for fusion to occur
amounts of energy. in our Sun.

“It is wonderful to be able to The laureates
celebrate the way that century-old Prof Clarke has been on the UC
quantum mechanics continually Berkeley faculty since 1969. Working
offers new surprises. It is also with graduate student John
enormously useful, as quantum Martinis and postdoctoral fellow
mechanics is the foundation of all Michel Devoret, Clarke devised an
digital technology,” said Olle Eriksson, experiment in the mid-1980s to
Chair of the Nobel Committee for confirm macroscopic quantum
Physics. tunnelling in superconducting
circuits.
“The transistors in computer
microchips are one example of the Prof Devoret is a founding member
established quantum technology that of the Yale Quantum Institute and Professor Michel H Devoret
surrounds us. This year’s Nobel Prize a leading figure in circuit quantum
in Physics has provided opportunities electrodynamics. His work with
for developing the next generation Clarke and Martinis demonstrated
of quantum technology, including for the first time that electrical
quantum cryptography, quantum circuits large enough to see with
computers and quantum sensors.” the naked eye could still behave
according to quantum mechanics.
Quantum mechanical tunnelling
Soon after the publication of Erwin Prof Martinis obtained his doctorate
Schrödinger’s equation in 1926 in physics in 1987 under Clarke.
(awarded a Nobel Prize in 1933), In 2014 he and his team were
solutions were found where the hired by Google Quantum AI to
wave-function penetrates classically build a quantum computer. In
forbidden regions. Although the 2022 he co-founded the quantum
wave-function decays under the computing company Qolab.
Professor John M Martinis
barrier, for finite length barriers it
also exists on the other side. There
is therefore a finite probability for The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, founded in 1739, is an
the particle to pass the barrier, even independent organisation whose objective is to promote the sciences
without enough classical energy.
and strengthen their influence in society. The Academy takes special
responsibility for the natural sciences and mathematics and promotes
An early successful application of
this theory was the explanation the exchange of ideas between disciplines.
of alpha decay, where an alpha

13 | EngineerIT November/December 2025