Nobel Prize-winning Research in Physical Review Letters

APS's Physical Review journals are home to the most Nobel-winning physics papers in the world.

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 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)

Physical Review Letters

A probability distribution has been proposed recently by one of us as an order parameter for spin-glasses.

PRL 52, 1156 (1984)

Physical Review Letters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more in Physics: "Discovery of Quasicrystals."

Related

An abstract plot showing colored lines spiking on a three-dimensional grid

Publishing the most influential developments in fundamental, applied, and interdisciplinary research

Students listen to a presentation in a physics lab

Stay up-to-date about physics community news, advocacy, history, and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in science, as well as APS and unit events.

The latest news and announcements about APS and the global physics community.

Midcentury photograph of men seated in a circle

Since our founding in 1899, APS has been carrying out our mission to advance physics.

Join your Society

If you embrace scientific discovery, truth and integrity, partnership, inclusion, and lifelong curiosity, this is your professional home.