(CNN) -- French and American scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for their work with light and matter, which may lead the way to superfast computers and "the most precise clocks ever seen," the prize committee said.

Nobel Prize in physics：诺贝尔物理奖=Nobel Physics Prize

Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the United States will share the $1.2 million prize, the second of six Nobel Prizes announced this month.

The award surprised those who expected the physics Nobel this year to be related to the discovery of the Higgs boson, considered one of the top scientific achievements of the past 50 years.

Higgs boson：希格斯玻色子（上帝粒子，2012年7月2日，美国科学家证明该粒子的存在）

Wineland and Haroche work in the field of quantum optics, approaching the same principles from opposite directions. The American uses light particles to measure the properties of matter, whereas his French colleague focuses on tracking light particles by using atoms.

quantum optics：量子光学

light particle：轻粒子

Both Nobel laureates have found ways to isolate the subatomic particles and keep their properties intact at the same time, scientists at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in Stockholm, Sweden.

subatomic particle：亚原子粒子

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences：瑞典皇家科学院

Usually when these particles interact with the outside world, the properties that scientists would like to directly observe disappear, leaving researchers postulating over what is going on with them.

The two have found a way around this, making direct observation possible. "The new methods allow them to examine, control and count the particles," the academy said.

Haroche is a professor at the College de France and Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, and Wineland is group leader and NIST Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado Boulder.

Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris：巴黎高级师范学院

National Institute of Standards and Technology：美国国家标准技术研究所

Their work has some potential side benefits to future technology.

side benefit：附带利益

"Their ground-breaking methods have enabled this field of research to take the very first steps towards building a new type of super fast computer based on quantum physics," the academy said.

ground-breaking：突破性的

quantum physics：量子物理；量子力学

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