{"id":56340,"date":"2025-10-08T20:15:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=56340"},"modified":"2025-10-09T11:37:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T06:07:16","slug":"2025-nobel-prize-in-physics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/08-10-2025\/2025-nobel-prize-in-physics","title":{"rendered":"2025 Nobel Prize in Physics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Science and Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis <\/strong>will share the 2025 Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery of a phenomenon <strong>called quantum mechanical tunneling in an electrical circuit.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"dfdbd0\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"519\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-Nobel-Prize-in-Physics.webp\" alt=\"john clarke, michel devoret and john martinis\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-56342\" style=\"--dominant-color: #dfdbd0; width:475px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-Nobel-Prize-in-Physics.webp 519w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-Nobel-Prize-in-Physics-300x231.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 519px) 100vw, 519px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They showed that the <strong>process of tunneling <\/strong>can occur not only in subatomic particles <strong>but also in an electrical circuit made of superconductors.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tunneling<\/strong> literally is the <strong>ability of particles to pass through physical walls.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Such strange behaviour <strong>cannot be observed at the macroscopic level<\/strong> but these scientists showed that it was possible to <strong>organise a multitude of single particles<\/strong> and coerce them to <strong>exhibit \u201ctunnelling\u201d properties.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Do you Know?<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Quantum mechanics<\/strong> was first formally described by <strong>German physicist Werner Heisenberg in 1925.&nbsp;<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>One-hundred years <\/strong>later the<strong> United Nations declared 2025<\/strong> the<strong> international year of quantum science and technology<\/strong> to celebrate the centenary of the breakthrough.<br>&#8211; <strong>Quantum technology<\/strong> is a rapidly advancing field that leverages the<strong> principles of quantum mechanics<\/strong> to develop new technologies with unprecedented capabilities.&nbsp;<br>1. <strong>Quantum mechanics<\/strong> is the branch of physics that studies the <strong>behavior of particles at the quantum level<\/strong>, where classical physics no longer applies.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How was it done?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A Josephson junction <\/strong>is a device made of two superconductors separated by a very thin insulating barrier.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>It allows Cooper pairs<\/strong> (pairs of electrons in a superconductor) to <strong>tunnel through the insulator without resistance,<\/strong> even though it is classically forbidden \u2014 this is <strong>known as the Josephson effect.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Quantum Tunnelling: <\/strong>When the current was below a critical value, electrons were trapped (no voltage).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Classically, this state should persist indefinitely, but quantum mechanics allows tunnelling \u2014 <strong>electron pairs \u201cescape\u201d through the barrier, producing a small voltage.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"ced1d7\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"696\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/10\/How-was-it-done-1024x696.webp\" alt=\"How was it done?\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-56343\" style=\"--dominant-color: #ced1d7; width:476px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/10\/How-was-it-done-1024x696.webp 1024w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/10\/How-was-it-done-300x204.webp 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/10\/How-was-it-done-768x522.webp 768w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/10\/How-was-it-done.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Applications of Josephson Junctions and Related Work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Quantum Computing: <\/strong>Josephson junctions form the basis of superconducting qubits, which use quantised energy levels for computation.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The field of <strong>circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED)<\/strong> \u2014 coupling superconducting circuits with microwave resonators&nbsp; arises from this work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Precision Measurements: <\/strong>Used in Josephson voltage standards for precise definition of the volt.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>SQUIDs (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) use Josephson junctions to detect extremely weak magnetic fields.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Quantum Technologies:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Quantum amplifiers: <\/strong>Boost weak signals with minimal noise.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Microwave-to-optical converters: <\/strong>Interface between quantum processors and optical networks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Quantum simulators:<\/strong> Model complex materials and reactions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/2025-nobel-prize-in-physics-goes-to-trio-for-discovery-of-macroscopic-quantum-mechanical-tunnelling\/article70133992.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis will share the 2025 Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery of a phenomenon called quantum mechanical tunneling in an electrical circuit.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>About<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">They showed that the process of tunneling can occur not only in subatomic particles but also in an electrical circuit made of superconductors.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Tunneling literally is the ability of particles to pass through physical walls.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/08-10-2025\/2025-nobel-prize-in-physics\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56340"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56376,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56340\/revisions\/56376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}