Can you think of light as a solid? It is counter-intuitive and impossible to imagine. But scientists of Italy’s National Research Council have done that.
In a report in The New Scientist magazine, researcher Dimitrios Trypogeorgos says, “We actually made light into a solid. That’s pretty awesome.”
Well, not exactly a solid but a rare state of matter called ‘supersolids’. A combination of solids and superfluids, supersolids maintain structural rigidity (solid) while also being able to flow indefinitely without slowing down (superfluids).
The Italian scientists’ work marks a significant milestone in the field of condensed matter physics. At the heart of the research are hybrid particles called ‘polaritons’, a combination of photons (light particles) and electrons.
Polaritons were made to coalesce into a supersolid state.
Trypogeorgos told Quantum that the researchers were able to achieve this “by manipulating interacting photons”.
He said the work “demonstrates a new mechanism for the formation of supersolids, compared to the ones created using ultracold atomic condensates”.
It, therefore, opens up “exciting research opportunities” for studying the behaviour of this intriguing phase of matter, he said.
Thinking of light as a solid indeed defies imagination. The best way to explain it is that, at a deep, particle level, light can be made to acquire the properties of a supersolid.
