Anton Zeilinger

Anton Zeilinger is an Austrian quantum physicist known for his experimental and theoretical work on entanglement, most notably the realization of multi-particle entangled states, quantum teleportation, quantum communication and cryptography, photonic quantum computation, and matter-wave interferometry from neutrons to fullerenes, the latter investigating decoherence and the quantum-classical transition in detail. Zeilinger is a professor of physics emeritus at the University of Vienna and a senior scientist at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In 2022, Zeilinger was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum entangled states.

Zeilinger was born on May 20th, 1945, in Ried im Innkreis, Austria. He first attended the University of Vienna in 1963, studying physics and mathematics. In 1971, he completed his doctorate in physics. Zeilinger was on the faculties of the Technical University of Vienna and the University of Innsbruck, returning to the University of Vienna in 1999, where he now runs the Zeilinger group. The aim of the group is to demonstrate quantum phenomena experimentally to investigate foundational science and develop potential future applications in the fields of quantum communication, quantum information processing, and biology. Zeilinger has held numerous visiting appointments, including M.I.T., the Technical University of Munich, Humboldt University Berlin, Oxford University, and the Chaire International at the College de France.

Key research milestones during Zelilinger's career include the following:

• Matter wave interferometry using neutrons, atoms, and buckyball molecules
• The discovery of three-particle entanglement as an extreme demonstration of quantum nonlocality
• The first experimental realization of quantum teleportation of a single independent photon
• The theoretical concept of entanglement swapping and its first experimental verification
• Long-distance demonstrations of quantum communication and loophole-free testing of Bell’s inequality
• The first experimental realization of entanglement-based quantum cryptography
• Development of many gates and procedures for optical quantum computation

On October 4th, 2022, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clauser, Alain Aspect, and Anton Zeilinger for:

experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.

The three scientists had independently:

conducted groundbreaking experiments using entangled quantum states, where two particles behave like a single unit even when they are separated. Their results have cleared the way for new technology based upon quantum information.

Using refined tools and long series of experiments, Anton Zeilinger started to use entangled quantum states. Among other things, his research group has demonstrated a phenomenon called quantum teleportation, which makes it possible to move a quantum state from one particle to one at a distance.