Int'l Centre for Theoretical Physics 183d ago

Physics Nobel Laureates Serge Haroche and Anne L'Huillier are interviewed by ICTP Director Atish Dabholkar and by Rosario Fazio, former Head of ICTP’s Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics section. Anne L’Huillier of Lund University, Sweden, received the 2023 Physics Nobel Prize for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter. Serge Haroche of Collège de France received the 2012 Physics Nobel Prize for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems. Haroche and L’Huillier visited ICTP in May 2025 to attend the joint ICTP-Lincei Conference on Quantum Physics: from Foundations to Emerging Technologies, a three-day event organised by ICTP and the Italian Accademia dei Lincei to celebrate the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, proclaimed by the United Nations in 2025. The conference featured nine Nobel Laureates who have made major contributions to quantum mechanics. 00:07 Introduction 01:28 Serge Haroche and the French atomic physics school 06:19 Anne L’Huillier and attosecond physics 08:01 The French physics school 10:40 How physics has evolved since the 1960s 11:30 The road to attosecond physics 13:30 The connection between fundamental research and applications 16:57 Cavity QED and attosecond physics 17:48 The unity of physics 18:28 Exploring the fundamentals of quantum mechanics with attosecond physics 21:58 Making science a truly global endeavour 24:25 ICTP’s role 26:30 Being a woman in physics