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A Supersolid Made Using Photons

photonicsonline.com

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Re: A Supersolid Made Using Photons

#21

Post by xarope »

biofox wrote: post #15
pyinstallwoes wrote: post #7

> The researchers created the supersolid state by condensing polaritons in a bound-in-the-continuum state within a photonic crystal waveguide. The researchers were able to achieve remarkable precision in the measurement of density modulations, hallmark of translational symmetry breaking. At the same time, they probed the local coherence of the supersolid wavefunction. Ah yes, classic move. Clearly, by aligning the po…

For anyone wondering what this comment is talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXJKdh1KZ0w

I was going to say something about modulating the wavelength, but OP wins.

(dingle-arm, he actually said dingle-arm!)

Re: A Supersolid Made Using Photons

#22

Post by xarope »

biofox wrote: post #15
pyinstallwoes wrote: post #7

> The researchers created the supersolid state by condensing polaritons in a bound-in-the-continuum state within a photonic crystal waveguide. The researchers were able to achieve remarkable precision in the measurement of density modulations, hallmark of translational symmetry breaking. At the same time, they probed the local coherence of the supersolid wavefunction. Ah yes, classic move. Clearly, by aligning the po…

For anyone wondering what this comment is talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXJKdh1KZ0w

OMG, they created another:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nKk_-Lvhzo

(and he said transmogrified!)

Re: A Supersolid Made Using Photons

#23

Post by softbuilder »

As a layperson I go into this thinking that it sounds like "scientists make matter from light" but after reading it seems more like "scientists make fancy electric field with a laser".

I guess "solid" has a technical definition that allows for this sort of interesting interpretation.

Re: A Supersolid Made Using Photons

#24

Post by walterbell »

walterbell wrote: post #8

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 und…

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.

Re: A Supersolid Made Using Photons

#26

Post by pmontra »

pizza wrote: post #16
nchagnet wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it can help: - Supersolid: it's a state of matter when a system is both organised like a solid but presents superfluid-like flow without viscosity. - Driven-dissipative: it's a qualifier for systems which are dissipative (excitations of the systems dissipate energy as heat) and driven by external fields (in this case strong electromagnetic fields are keeping the supersolid in shape). In physics, "driven" usually r…

> a system is both organised like a solid but presents superfluid-like flow without viscosity This is hard for me to grasp. For example, if it bumps hard into a hard solid surface, does it shear like, say, bent metal? Or is it itself 'hard' / rigid - if that is a reasonable descriptor for something at such small scales - itself, and - despite being able to flow, with no friction, smoothly - still remain 'locked in sh…

Or does it go through the hard solid surface and emerge unscathed on the other side? Probably not or it will fall towards the center of Earth and bounce back and forth, at least until it loses its supersolidity, which I bet will happen pretty quickly.

Re: A Supersolid Made Using Photons

#28

Post by einpoklum »

nchagnet wrote: post #10
riffraff wrote: post #2

> the first experimental evidence of a supersolid phase in a driven-dissipative, non-equilibrium system using exciton-polaritons in a photonic crystal waveguide. This is just messing with us right? Star trek level technobabble? Just kidding, seems an exciting result, even if it flies way over my head.

If it can help: - Supersolid: it's a state of matter when a system is both organised like a solid but presents superfluid-like flow without viscosity. - Driven-dissipative: it's a qualifier for systems which are dissipative (excitations of the systems dissipate energy as heat) and driven by external fields (in this case strong electromagnetic fields are keeping the supersolid in shape). In physics, "driven" usually r…

So, about the excitons - this is a bit like, with semiconductors, people talk about the "holes" as though they were particles moving and interacting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_hole

but it's more like a way of describing a system.

Which also means that nobody is making a solid object from photons, it's all "behaves like a solid would if you look at our system a certain way". Right?

---

Also - I don't see how the phrases "behaves like a solid" and "presents flow" can agree. Isn't the whole point of a solid that it _doesn't_ flow?

Re: A Supersolid Made Using Photons

#29

Post by [deleted] »

walterbell wrote: post #8

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 und…

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