For the first time, researchers have transformed light into a “‘supersolid” — a strange state of matter that is both solid and liquid at the same time.
Although scientists have made supersolids out of atoms before, this is the first instance of coupling light and matter to create a supersolid and it opens new doors for studying condensed-matter physics, researchers explained in a paper published March 5 in journal Nature.
Supersolids are a strange state of matter defined by quantum mechanics where particles condense into an orderly, crystalline solid but also move like a liquid that has no viscosity. (Viscosity refers to a substance’s internal friction, governing how smoothly it flows). Usually, solids don’t move on their own, but supersolids change direction and density depending on particle interactions while maintaining an organized lattice structure.
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