The Hindu : Front Page : Two Americans, German share Nobel physics prize

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Wednesday, Oct 05, 2005

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Two Americans, German share Nobel physics prize

Stockholm: Americans John L Hall and Roy J Glauber and German Theodor W Haensch won the 2005 Nobel Prize in physics for their work in advancing the precision of optic technology that could lead to clear long-distance communication worldwide and beyond.

The prize was given to the three for their work in applying modern quantum physics to the study of optics, a pursuit that has led to the improvement of lasers, optical clocks, GPS technology and other instruments.

Glauber, 80, of Harvard University, took half of this year's Nobel for showing in the 1960s how the particle nature of light affects its behavior under certain circumstances. Although those conditions are rarely observed in nature, they are often relevant in sophisticated optical instruments.

Hall, 71, of the University of Colorado, and Haensch, 63, of the Ludwig-Maximilian-Universitaet in Munich, won for their work in determining the color of light at the atomic and molecular level. Haensch used evenly spaced laser pulses to determine the frequencies and Hall refined the technique.

Sune Svanberg, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said Glauber can rightly be considered the father of quantum optics, and that his theories paved the way for the discoveries made by Hall and Haensch.

Until Glauber published his theories in 1963, scientists had dismissed the idea that the quantum theory, originally developed by Albert Einstein, could be applied to the field of optics.

"There were completely different ideas back then about how to view this," Svanberg said. "His results are fundamental for our modern understanding of the behavior of light."

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