To understand the quantum world, researchers have developed lab-scale tools to manipulate microscopic objects without disturbing them. The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes two of these quantum tinkerers: David Wineland, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado in Boulder, and Serge Haroche, of the Collège de France and the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. Two of their papers, published in 1995 and ‘96 in Physical Review Letters, exemplify their contributions. The one by Wineland and collaborators showed how to use atomic states to make a quantum logic gate, the first step toward a superfast quantum computer. The other, by Haroche and his colleagues, demonstrated one of the strange predictions of quantum mechanics—that measuring a quantum system can pull the measuring device into a weird quantum state which then dissipates over time.
A quantum system can exist in two distinct states at the same time. The challenge in studying this so-called superposition of quantum states is that any nudge from the environment can quickly push the system into one state or the other. Wineland and Haroche both designed experiments that isolate particles—ions or photons—from the environment, so that they can be carefully controlled without losing their quantum character.
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