Three US-based scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for a series of 1980s experiments that helped develop “the next generation of quantum technology”.

The British physicist John Clarke, based at the University of California at Berkeley; Michel Devoret, a French physicist at Yale University; and American physicist John Martinis of the University of California, Santa Barbara were honoured “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit”.

“To put it mildly, it was the surprise of my life,” Clarke said at a press conference announcing the award. It “had not occurred to us in any way” that their work could win them a Nobel Prize, he said, describing the contributions of Devoret and Martinis as “just overwhelming”.

Olle Eriksson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, : “It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the way that century-old quantum mechanics continually offers new surprises.”

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“It is also enormously useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology,” Eriksson said.

In 1984 and 1985, Clarke, Devoret and Martinis performed a series of experiments on an electronic circuit comprising superconductors and non-conductive material, studying “the phenomena that arose when they passed a current through it”.

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The physicists successfully demonstrated “both quantum mechanical tunnelling and quantised energy levels in a system big enough to be held in the hand”, the Nobel committee said in a press release.

They will share a prize of 11 million Swedish kroner (£870,000).

The University of Cambridge, where Clarke completed both his undergraduate studies and his PhD, . Mete Atatüre, head of the university’s Cavendish Laboratory, said: “I’m of course thrilled with today’s well-deserved announcement.”

“John Clarke, together with Michel Devoret and John Martinis, pushed the door open for today’s quantum technologies based on superconducting qubits, putting fundamental quantum phenomena at work in real devices,” Atatüre said.

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emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com