No one swallowed dangerous bugs. No one got any ulcers. They didn鈥檛 need to. The winners of the 2005 Nobel prize for physics were recognised for their work on the fundamental properties of light.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Tuesday that Roy Glauber of Harvard University will share the prize for his work in quantum physics and optics with John Hall of the University of Colorado in Boulder and Theodor H盲nsch of the Max Planck Institute in Garching, Germany for their work on laser spectroscopy, enabling physical phenomena to be measured with unprecedented precision.
Glauber鈥檚 1963 work focused on understanding optical phenomena in terms of quantum physics, giving rise to the field of quantum optics. His insights made it possible, for instance, to describe the differences between hot sources of light such as light bulbs (a mixture of frequencies and phases) and lasers, which have a specific frequency and phase.
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Hall and H盲nsch focused on working out the colour of the light of atoms and molecules with extreme precision, leading to the field of laser-based precision spectroscopy.
鈥淗all and H盲nsch鈥檚 work led to the field of laser-based precision spectroscopy鈥�
Their so-called 鈥渇requency comb technique鈥� uses lasers of extremely sharp colours to make precise readings of light of all colours. According to the Nobel prize committee, 鈥淭his technique makes it possible to carry out studies of the stability of the constants of nature and to develop extremely accurate clocks and improved GPS technology.鈥�
