“From Einstein’s doubts and Bell’s theorem to quantum technologies: the second quantum revolution”
Alain Aspect
Nobel Prize in Physics 2022
Director of Research Emeritus at the CNRS, Professor at the Institut d’Optique and the École Polytechnique, member of the Académie des Sciences
Monday October 2nd, 2023 | 4:30 pm | Forum Rolex
In French
This Campus Lecture took place during the Physics Day 2023, organized by EPFL’s Doctoral Program in Physics.
Thanks to the mysterious concept of wave-particle duality, the first quantum revolution made it possible to describe the structure of matter, its electrical, mechanical and optical properties, and its interaction with light. It then provided the technologies – transistor, laser, integrated circuits – that led to the information and communication society.
The second quantum revolution, based on the notion of entanglement, is even more surprising in conceptual terms, since it forces us to reject Einstein’s cherished local realist vision of the world, as demonstrated by the violation of Bell’s inequalities. It also opens up fascinating prospects for applications, with emerging technologies ranging from quantum sensors to quantum communications and quantum computers. Will these technologies bring about a new upheaval in society? Then we could truly speak of a second quantum revolution!
Emeritus research director at CNRS, professor at the Institut d’Optique and École Polytechnique, member of the Académie des Sciences
Alain Aspect is an alumnus of ENSET Cachan (now ENS-Paris-Saclay) and Orsay University. He is currently Professor at the Institut d’Optique-Université Paris-Saclay and at the École Polytechnique. His thesis research at the Institut d’Optique focused on experimental tests of the foundations of quantum mechanics (tests of Bell’s inequalities, for which he was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics along with John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger). He then worked on laser cooling of atoms at the ENS Kastler Brossel laboratory, with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Jean Dalibard and Christophe Salomon. The group he founded at the Institut d’Optique in 1993 focuses on atomic quantum optics and degenerate quantum gas simulators.
Alain Aspect is also a member of the French Académie des Technologies and several foreign academies (Austria, Belgium, Italy, UK and USA).
4:30 pm
Introduction
4:40 pm
Campus Lecture
“From Einstein’s doubts and Bell’s theorem to quantum technologies: the second quantum revolution” (conference in French)
Alain Aspect
5:30 pm
Q&A
6:30 pm
Cocktail
