For the past 3 years (2021, 2020 and 2019), I have tried to predict the Nobel laureates, with mixed results. Let me try again this year. Last year, I thought the prize would go to atomic-scale quantum devices or quantum encryption. There is a chance it will be, this year, for condensed matter physics-related subjects. Instead of repeating the same names again until it eventually becomes true, I think this year topological insulators and the quantum spin Hall effect have a chance of getting it. Eugene Mele, Charles Kane and Laurens Molenkamp have made seminal contributions.

I also think it could go to Jun Ye and Hidetoshi Katori, who were awarded this year the Breakthrough prize for their contribution to optical lattice atomic clocks.

Here is a short list of potential awardees this year:

• Eugene Mele, Charles Kane and Laurens Molenkamp for the quantum spin Hall effect in topological insulators
• Jun Ye and Hidetoshi Katori for atomic clocks
• Anne L’Huillier, Paul Corkum and Ferenc Krausz for ultrafast lasers and the physics enabled by attosecond techniques edit (Oct 2023): Anne L’Huillier and Ferenc Krausz were awarded the 2023 Nobel Prizetogether with Pierre Agostini “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter”.
• Agnès Barthélémy, Ramamoorthy Ramesh and Nicola Spaldin for multiferroics and magnetoelectric materials
• Clare Grey might be a contender for her contributions to the characterisation of batteries and supercapacitors
• Michel Devoret and Daniel Estève experimentally demonstrated the concept of qubits, although it might be a bit early as applications are still in their infancy.

And you, who do you think will get it this year? Engage on twitter!