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We all have heard about frozen water, frozen liquid and even frozen nitrogen, which is a gas. But frozen light? Sounds like an idea from a sci-fi film!
In a groundbreaking achievement, a team of Italian scientists has successfully frozen light and demonstrated that it can behave like a supersolid. This discovery, published in the Nature journal on 5 March, under the title ‘A Supersolid Made Using Photons’, marks a major leap in quantum physics. It has been described as “only the beginning” of understanding supersolidity.
The research team, led by Italian physicists Antonio Gianfate of CNR Nanotec and Davide Nigro of the University of Pavia, successfully demonstrated that light can be manipulated to exhibit supersolid properties. “This is only the beginning of understanding supersolidity,” they wrote in their research summary.
WHAT IS A SUPERSOLID?
A supersolid is a phase of matter that maintains a solid’s crystalline structure that combines frictionless movement of superfluids with the rigid structure of solids. Previously, supersolids were only observed in Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC), an ultra-cold state of matter formed when individual atoms or subatomic particles are cooled to temperatures near absolute zero.
HOW WAS LIGHT FROZEN?
Ordinarily, when a liquid freezes, its molecules slow down and align into a structured solid form. However, in this experiment, the Italian scientists worked with light at temperatures near absolute zero, where quantum effects dominate. Absolute zero, defined as 0 Kelvin (-273.15°C or -459.67°F), is the coldest possible temperature, where molecular motion nearly ceases. While absolute zero itself is unattainable, researchers can achieve temperatures infinitesimally close to it in controlled laboratory settings.
The study is based on a concept called Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), where particles move together as one unit at extremely low temperatures. When too many photons (particles of light) were present, they started behaving in an unusual way, forming patterns that showed supersolid behaviour. “These photons form satellite condensates that have opposite nonzero wave numbers but the same energy (they are isoenergetic),” the researchers explained in their study.
SIGNIFICANCE AND APPLICATIONS OF THE DISCOVERY
The discovery of supersolid light has profound implications for the future of quantum technology. One of the most promising applications is in quantum computing, where supersolid light could enhance the stability of qubits—the fundamental units of quantum computation.
Additionally, this breakthrough could revolutionise the development of optical devices, photonic circuits, and further fundamental research in quantum mechanics.
The ability to manipulate light in this way offers new possibilities in precision measurement, secure communication, and advanced materials science.
This discovery gives scientists a new way to study light and could lead to advances in quantum physics and technology. “The supersolid state emerges, and a spatial modulation in the density of photons in the system occurs that is characteristic of the supersolid state,” the study concludes.
*Curated with reports from the Nature journal and various published sources on the internet.
