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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…
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08616-9 https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.02373
"At the mean field level, supersolidity can be interpreted as two-mode condensation; after condensation in the first, a second mode become senergetically available by tuning of interactions or an external electromagnetic field and can then be dynamically populated."
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…
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…
First, just like a superfluid, a supersolid can have a portion that flows and one that doesn't (the normal fraction).
The second part is that, as you rightfully mentioned, holes are just vacancies in the structure. Here the vacancies in the crystalline structure they made are able to flow along the solid. But as they flow, the structure retains its shape. And at low enough temperature, these excitations condense into a macroscopic quantum state which makes them a superfluid.
So in a nutshell, you have an organised structure like a solide, but a portion of that structure flows without breaking the overall structure.
> 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…
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.
So you read it correctly: scientists made a fancy electric field with a laser.