Nobel prizes Next Week

In 2022, I became a minor celebrity among my friends for a week for correctly predicting that Alain Aspect would win the physics Nobel prize. In this post I list some contenders for the prize this year, which will be announced next week, Tuesday, October 7.

1. Topological physics: Topological physics studies the fundamental properties of matter and systems that are protected by virtue of their underlying geometric shape and symmetry, rather than by local forces.

   
   

   A name that has been in consideration for a long while is Michael Berry, whose eponymous phase plays a fundamental role in explaining the quantum Hall effect and topological insulators. Another major player in the field is Alexei Kitaev, whose work also connects to quantum computing.

   
   

2. Quantum cryptography: Although a quantum computer seems some distance away from being built, quantum cryptography systems went commercial quite some time ago. The pioneers in this area were people like Peter Shor, Charles Bennett, and Giles Brassard. Shor, through his demonstration that quantum computers can break the RSA cryptosystem, pioneered post-quantum cryptography. Bennett and Brassard developed the BB84 protocol for cryptography.

   
   

3. Metamaterials: This is an area yet to be recognized by a Nobel, though quite deserving. Metamaterials are substances designed by human beings which have properties not naturally found in nature, such as negative refractive index. One of the high profile aspects of the subject is invisibility research. The pioneers of the field were Victor Veselago, and John Pendry.

4. Graphene redux: Some of the prominent journals in physics have alphabets associated with them: the Physical Review A (atomic and molecular physics), B (condensed matter physics), C (nuclear physics), D (particle physics and cosmology) , E (statistical physics, networks). There was a time when graphene as a research topic was so popular a colleague joked they would have to start a journal entirely devoted graphene: Physical Review G.

   
   

   While that excitement has somewhat subsided, bilayer graphene is now a hot topic, important for energy storage and electronics as well as showing unconventional superconductivity. The pioneers in this area are Pablo Jarillo-Herrero (experiment) and Allan H. MacDonald (theory).

5. Orbital angular momentum of light: One might think that everything about light became known after Maxwell set down his classical theory and later, quantum mechanics clarified the photon nature of electromagnetic radiation.

   
   

   It therefore came as a surprise in 1992 when it was pointed out that photons can carry much more than the one unit of spin angular momentum (in their polarization) recognized thus far. They can carry practically an infinite amount of orbital angular momentum in their wavefronts.

   
   

   This discovery has revolutionized many fields, such as quantum communication, imaging and nanotechnology. Les Allen was one of the pioneers, but sadly he passed away in 2016. Other major contributors to the field are Johannes Woerdmann and Miles Padgett.

Afterword

This is not a comprehensive list. I apologize to anyone whose field has not been represented - astronomy for example. For other forecasts, see: physiology or medicine, literature, chemistry. I did not find any good links for economics or peace.