Nobel Prize-winning Research in Physical Review Letters
APS's Physical Review Letters publishes prize-winning research. Over 65% of the Nobel Prize-winning research published in the last four decades is included in Physical Review journals, as are Nobel Prize in Physics winners from the previous 13 years.
For more information about winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics, please consult the winners' list.
2023 Nobel Prize in Physics winners
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier, for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter
Read more in Physics: "Flashes of Light Catch Electrons in the Act."
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics honors the field of attosecond physics, which offers a nonblurry view of the fast-moving electrons inside atoms and molecules.
The energy spectrum of electrons produced by multiphoton ionization of xenon atoms has been analyzed with a retarding potential technique.
PRL 42, 1127 (1979)
Singly, doubly, triply, and quadruply charged krypton ions are formed by multiphoton absorption processes in krypton atoms.
PRL 48, 1814 (1982)
The effect of an intense laser field on the energies of Auger electrons has been investigated using electron spectroscopy.
PRL 73, 2180 (1994)
We demonstrate that high-order harmonics generated by an atom in intense laser field form trains of ultrashort pulses corresponding to different trajectories of electrons that tunnel out of the atom and recombine.
PRL 77, 1234 (1996)
We have studied the temporal coherence of high-order harmonics (up to the 15th order) produced by focusing 100 fs laser pulses into an argon gas jet.
PRL 81, 297 (1998)
2022 Nobel Prize in Physics winners
Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger, for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science
Read more in Physics: "Quantum Entanglement Unveiled."
We present the experimental observation of polarization entanglement for three spatially separated photons.
PRL 82, 1345 (1999)
We experimentally entangle freely propagating particles that never physically interacted with one another or which have never been dynamically coupled by any other means.
PRL 80, 3891 (1998)
We observe strong violation of Bell's inequality in an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-type experiment with independent observers.
PRL 81, 5039 (1998)
Using independent sources one can realize an ‘‘event-ready’’ Bell–Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen experiment in which one can measure directly the probabilities of the various outcomes including nondetection of both particles.
PRL 71, 4287 (1993)
The linear-polarization correlation of pairs of photons emitted in a radiative cascade of calcium has been measured.
PRL 49, 91 (1982)
Correlations of linear polarizations of pairs of photons have been measured with time-varying analyzers. The analyzer in each leg of the apparatus is an acousto-optical switch followed by two linear polarizers.
PRL 49, 1804 (1982)
We have measured the linear polarization correlation of the photons emitted in a radiative atomic cascade of calcium. A high-efficiency source provided an improved statistical accuracy and an ability to perform new tests.
PRL 47, 460 (1981)
We have measured the linear polarization correlation of the photons emitted in an atomic cascade of calcium.
PRL 28, 938 (1972)
A theorem of Bell, proving that certain predictions of quantum mechanics are inconsistent with the entire family of local hidden-variable theories, is generalized so as to apply to realizable experiments.
PRL 23, 880 (1969)
2021 Nobel Prize in Physics winners
Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann, for the physical modeling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming
Giorgio Parisi, for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales
Read more in Physics: "Complexity, from Atoms to Atmospheres."
We numerically study the structure of the interactions occurring in three-dimensional systems of hard spheres at jamming, focusing on the large-scale behavior.
PRL 127, 038001 (2021)
The mechanical properties of jammed packings depend sensitively on their detailed local structure.
PRL 109, 205501 (2012)
A probability distribution has been proposed recently by one of us as an order parameter for spin-glasses.
PRL 52, 1156 (1984)
An order parameter for spin-glasses is defined in a clear physical way: It is a function on the interval 0-1 and it is related to the probability distribution of the overlap of the magnetization in different states of the system.
PRL 50, 1946 (1983)
This Letter shows that in the mean-field approximation spin-glasses must be described by an infinite number of order parameters in the framework of the replica theory.
PRL 43, 1754 (1979)
2020 Nobel Prize in Physics
Roger Penrose, for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity
Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez, for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy
- Gravitational Collapse and Space-Time Singularities, PRL 14, 57 (1965)
- Asymptotic Properties of Fields and Space-Times, PRL 10, 66 (1963)
Read more in Physics: "Facing the Reality of Black Holes."
2019 Nobel Prize in Physics
James Peebles, for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology
Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star
- Primeval Helium Abundance and the Primeval Fireball, PRL 16, 410 (1966)
Read more in Physics: "Tackling Cosmic Questions."
2018 Nobel Prize in Physics
Arthur Ashkin, for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics", in particular "for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems
Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland, for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics", in particular "for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses
- Experimental Observation of Optically Trapped Atoms, PRL 57, 314 (1986)
- Trapping of Atoms by Resonance Radiation Pressure, PRL 40, 729 (1978)
- Acceleration and Trapping of Particles by Radiation Pressure, PRL 24, 156 (1970)
Read more in Physics: "Lasers as Tools."
2017 Nobel Prize in Physics
Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne, and Barry Barish, for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves
- GW170104: Observation of a 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence at Redshift 0.2, PRL 118, 221101 (2018)
- Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger, PRL 116, 061102 (2016)
- GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence, PRL 116, 241103 (2016)
Read more in Physics: "Opinion: Filming the Thrill of Physics Discovery."
2016 Nobel Prize in Physics
David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane, and John M. Kosterlitz, for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter
- Model for a Quantum Hall Effect without Landau Levels: Condensed-Matter Realization of the "Parity Anomaly, PRL 61, 2015 (1988)
- Nonlinear Field Theory of Large-Spin Heisenberg Antiferromagnets: Semiclassically Quantized Solitons of the One-Dimensional Easy-Axis Néel State, PRL 50, 1153 (1983)
- Quantized Hall Conductance in a Two-Dimensional Periodic Potential, PRL 49, 405 (1982)
- Universal Jump in the Superfluid Density of Two-Dimensional Superfluids, PRL 39, 1201 (1977)
Read more in Physics: "Topological Phases of Matter."
2015 Nobel Prize in Physics
Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald, for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass
- Direct Evidence for Neutrino Flavor Transformation from Neutral-Current Interactions in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, PRL 89, 011301 (2002)
- Measurement of the Rate of (formula) Interactions Produced by (formula) Solar Neutrinos at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, PRL 87, 071301 (2001)
- Evidence for Oscillation of Atmospheric Neutrinos, PRL 81, 1562 (1998)
Read more in Physics: "Neutrinos Oscillate."
2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Eric Bertzig, Stefan W. Hell, and William E. Moerner, for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy
- Optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules in a solid, PRL 62, 2535 (1989)
Read more in Physics: "Seeing Single Molecules."
2013 Nobel Prize in Physics
Francois Englert and Peter Higgs, for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider
- Broken Symmetry and the Mass of Gauge Vector Mesons, PRL 13, 321 (1964)
- Broken Symmetries and the Masses of Gauge Bosons, PRL 13, 508 (1964)
Read more in Physics: "Seeing Single Molecules."
2012 Nobel Prize in Physics winners
Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland, for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems
- Observing the Progressive Decoherence of the “Meter” in a Quantum Measurement, PRL 77.4887 (1996)
- Generation of Nonclassical Motional States of a Trapped Atom, PRL 76, 1796 (1996)
- Quantum Rabi Oscillation: A Direct Test of Field Quantization in a Cavity, PRL 76, 1800 (1996)
- Demonstration of a Fundamental Quantum Logic Gate, PRL 75.4714 (1995)
For more about the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics and this groundbreaking research, read Physics magazine's "Tools for Quantum Tinkering."
2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner
Dan Shechtman, for the discovery of quasicrystals
- Metallic Phase with Long-Range Orientational Order and No Translational Symmetry, PRL 53, 1951 (1984)
Read more in Physics: "Discovery of Quasicrystals."
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