The awards were given for their "experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science," the academy said in a statement.

"Their results have cleared the way for new technology based upon quantum information," it added.

Aspect, born in 1947 in France's Agen, is a professor at Paris-Saclay University. Clauser, 80, is a research physicist at J.F. Clauser and Associates in the United States. Zeilinger, 77, serves as a professor at the University of Vienna.

This year's prize amount is 10 million Swedish kronor (about 920,000 U.S. dollars), to be shared equally between the three laureates.

(With UNI inputs)