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The light was solidified for the first time!
A supersolid is a special and fascinating state of matter that behaves as a solid and a liquid at the same time. This paradoxical phenomenon, which was first proposed more than 60 years ago, has long seemed more like a theoretical curiosity than a real physical phenomenon. However, researchers have now demonstrated this state with the help of a completely unusual medium, light.
Supersolidity was already demonstrated in 2007 in ultracold atomic systems such as sodium and rubidium. However, an international research team has now taken a completely new approach: they have created a supersolid material using light-derived particles called polaritons. This is the first time that light itself has been transformed into a solid.
„We’ve actually made a solid out of light. It’s pretty amazing” Dimitris Trypogeorgos, a physicist at the Italian National Research Council (CNR), told New Scientist.
Supersolids uniquely combine the fixed structure of solids with the frictionless flow of superfluids. While atoms in conventional materials are arranged in a rigid lattice, in a supersolid the particles retain this ordered structure while flowing through it unhindered. Physicists have been trying to decipher this special state since the 1950s. For decades, they investigated whether the phenomenon could occur in the case of ultracold helium-4. In 2004, it seemed that it had been detected in helium under extreme pressure, but later experiments refuted the first encouraging results. However, the search for a stable supersolid material has not stopped – and now a breakthrough has finally been achieved.
article source: https://raketa.hu/eloszor-sikerult-a-fenyt-megszilarditani