David Wineland

David Wineland shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics with Serge Haroche for methods that measure and manipulate individual quantum systems. Wineland's side of the prize centered on trapped ions, work closely associated with NIST in Boulder, Colorado.

An ion trap uses electromagnetic fields to hold charged atoms nearly motionless so their quantum states can be controlled. Wineland's experiments used trapped ions to test quantum mechanics and build foundations for quantum clocks and quantum information processing.

His trapped-ion techniques helped improve precision spectroscopy, which is central to optical atomic clocks. NIST researchers used ions such as aluminum and beryllium in landmark clock and quantum logic experiments.

The other half of the 2012 physics prize went to Serge Haroche of France. Haroche worked with photons in cavities, while Wineland worked with trapped ions, making the prize a paired recognition of controlled single quantum systems.