A Supersolid Made Using Photons

NewScientist summary, https://archive.is/b9qKH

  An odd solid that can flow like a fluid has been created from light for the first time. Studying it will help researchers better understand exotic quantum states of matter. “We actually made light into a solid." ... light-based supersolids may be easier to manipulate than those previously created with atoms, which could make his team’s experiment a first step towards understanding a slew of novel and surprising types of matter.

Research by:

  Italy: CNR National Institute of Optics, University of Pavia
  USA: Princeton University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  Austria: University of Innsbruck

In the industrial present, Intel has shipped a few million silicon photonics ICs for data center optical networking, with ongoing R&D in both quantum and neuromorphic computing, https://thequantuminsider.com/2025/01/09/quantum-and-ai-proj...

A few months ago from U of Innsbruck, "Physicists Stir a Supersolid For First Time, Proving Its Bizarre Dual Nature", https://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-stir-a-supersolid-fo...

> Under these extreme conditions, matter starts behaving very differently from what we are used to.. More than half a century ago, physicists predicted the existence of a "supersolid" state. It is matter that has the properties of both a solid and a superfluid, in which a fraction of the atoms flow friction-free through the lattice – a regular arrangement of points or objects – of a rigid crystal structure.. A series of tiny whirlpools, or quantised vortices, begin to appear.. These are like small holes in the fluid, each rotating at a specific speed.. they arrange themselves in beautiful, regular patterns across the surface of the superfluid, almost like the holes in a piece of Gruyere cheese, but perfectly organized.