Michel Henri Devoret (; born 5 March 1953) is a French–American physicist. He is Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Professor Emeritus of Applied Physics at Yale University. He serves as the Chief Scientist for Quantum Hardware at Google Quantum AI. He is known for the development of various superconducting quantum computing architectures, including the quantronium, the transmon, and the fluxonium.

Devoret shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics with John Clarke and John M. Martinis for their joint work on macroscopic quantum phenomena in superconducting circuits.

Early life and education Michel Henri Devoret was born on 5 March 1953 in Paris. He has stated that his parents were of Jewish background, even though they were not religious.

Devoret graduated with an engineer's degree in 1975 from École nationale supérieure des télécommunications (now Télécom Paris). He then obtained a DEA () in Quantum Optics in 1976, followed by a Ph.D. in Quantum Condensed Matter Physics in 1982, both from the University of Orsay (now Paris-Saclay University). He performed his doctoral research at CEA Saclay in the group of Anatole Abragam, under the supervision of Neil S. Sullivan.

Career Devoret worked as a postdoctoral researcher in John Clarke's group at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1982 to 1984. Together, with John M. Martinis, a graduate student at the time, they demonstrated for the first time the quantized energy levels of a Josephson junction in 1985.

Devoret then returned to France and founded the Quantronics group at the Orme des Merisiers laboratory of CEA Saclay together with and Cristian Urbina. The group measured the traversal time of tunnelling, invented an electron pump, observed the charge of Cooper pairs directly, and developed a type of qubit dubbed quantronium. They also observed the Ramsey fringes of quantronium.

In 1996, Devoret spent a research stay in the laboratory of at Delft University of Technology.

Devoret became a professor at Yale University in 2002. At Yale University, Steven Girvin, Robert J. Schoelkopf, and Devoret devised a type of superconducting charge qubit called the transmon. In 2009, Devoret also pioneered fluxonium, which can be understood as a special type of flux qubit. In 2010, he also developed a microwave quantum limited amplifier for qubit readout and sensing.

He also participated in 2018 in an experiment demonstrating the interruption and reversal of quantum jumps in a superconducting artificial atom, providing new insights into the dynamics of quantum measurement.

From 2007 to 2012, Michel Devoret held the Chair of Mesoscopic Physics at the Collège de France where his inaugural lecture, "From the Atom to Quantum Machines," illustrated the connection between fundamental quantum phenomena and emerging quantum technologies. He resigned in 2013.

In 2023, he was named the Chief Scientist for Hardware at Google Quantum AI. In 2024, he moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara to serve as Professor of Physics.

Recognition In 1970, Michel Devoret received the Prix de la Couronne française, an award recognizing young French researchers.

Awards Year Organization Award Citation 1991 French Academy of Sciences Ampère Prize — 1995 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Descartes–Huygens Prize — 2004 European Physical Society EPS Europhysics Prize "For the realisation and demonstration of the quantum bit concept based on superconducting circuits." 2013 Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control John Stewart Bell Prize — 2014 Duke University Fritz London Memorial Prize "In recognition of fundamental and pioneering experimental advances in quantum control, quantum information processing and quantum optics with superconducting qubits and microwave photons." 2016 Aalto University Olli V. Lounasmaa Memorial Prize "For his pioneering investigations and applications of macroscopic quantum phenomena at low temperatures." 2021 Micius Quantum Foundation Micius Quantum Prize "For their leading roles in pioneering superconducting quantum circuits and qubits." 2024 National Academy of Sciences Comstock Prize in Physics — 2025 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Nobel Prize in Physics "For the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit."

Memberships Year Organization Type 2003 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Member 2007 French Academy of Sciences Member 2023 National Academy of Sciences Member

Chivalric titles Year Head of state Title 2008 Nicolas Sarkozy Knight of the Legion of Honour

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References

External links

Interview with Michel Devoret — AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives oral history