Dr Haroche worked on photons (the particles of light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation).
ECONOMIST: The 2012 Nobel prizes
2.
Dr Haroche trapped his photons by getting them to bounce back and forth between two tiny superconducting mirrors.
ECONOMIST: The 2012 Nobel prizes
3.
Dr Haroche and Dr Wineland led independent teams which, beginning in the 1980s, devised ways to measure and manipulate particles while preserving superposition.