Irish trailblazer in quantum physics Séamus Davis wins one of world’s most prestigious science awards

The Irish physicist Prof Séamus Davis, whose work is at the cutting edge of quantum physics, has been awarded the 2023 Oliver E Buckley Prize — one of the most prestigious awards in world science.

The professor of quantum physics at University College Cork is the first Irish winner of the prize. Presented annually since 1953, 18 recipients of the Buckley prize have also won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

His work is exploratory, setting out to find quantum states that will shape future development of the quantum computer. He operates laboratories at UCC, Cornell University and the University of Oxford.

Prof Davis has compared his field of research to Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the New World while searching for a route to the Indies: researchers set out into the unknown, discover unexpected new continents and then have to explore further.

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A revolution in computing will be driven by quantum technology, he has predicted. Such technology at present relies on superconductors operating at temperatures close to absolute zero, but to be commercially viable, room temperature quantum computing is needed. He has built tools that are moving the field forward.

The award from the American Physical Society recognises outstanding theoretical or experimental contributions to condensed matter physics.

The award committee said Prof Davis received the prize for his “innovative applications of scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy to complex quantum states of matter”. The award is shared with Prof Ali Yazdani of Princeton University.

“New materials are constantly created in laboratories around the world. Previously, to properly understand these new materials, we would observe some of their characteristics, develop theories based on these observations, test these and develop further theories based on what we would learn,” Prof Davis explained.

This meant it was taking years, if not decades in some cases, to develop a full profile of materials. “What we have done is developed approaches and designs that allow us to extract direct atomic scale imaging of even the most complex electronic structure, giving us an almost instant and complete profile of these materials.

“A useful analogy would be to look at what is happening in science of space. Scientists have long held theories about our galaxy and beyond — but now we are sending huge telescopes into space which are capturing images, which are giving us the proof of what is out there. We are doing something similar, with the inner space of quantum materials,” he said.

On the award, Prof Davis said: “This work has spanned 25 years and there have been hundreds of contributors in that time — too many to thank individually. I would, however, like to thank all those who have supported our quantum microscope concept, since it started at UC Berkeley in the 1990s, matured at Cornell University in the 2000s and has now become operational at UCC.”

UCC president Prof John O’Halloran congratulated Prof Davis, who is from Skibbereen, Co Cork, on a significant scholarly achievement recognising his extraordinary work.

“We are so lucky to have Séamus leading out this ground-breaking work, generously supported by Science Foundation Ireland. Quantum and photonics are one of the recently announced thematic areas for futures research at UCC and this award will give further momentum to this initiative,” he said.

Prof Davis has received many honours and awards, including the St Patrick’s Day Science Medal.