Light-matter hybrids form supersolid quantum state at room temperature

Remarkably, the phenomenon occurs not at temperatures close to absolute zero, but at room temperature.

The short version

• The results have been published in Science Advances.
• This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies .
• The results have been published in Science Advances .

What happened

As early as the 1960s, physicists predicted that a superfluid could simultaneously develop a periodic crystal-like structure. The resulting phase, called a supersolid, retains the frictionless flow of a superfluid while exhibiting the spatial order of a crystal.

Why it matters

For more than half a century, this remained a theoretical prediction.

Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Phys.org via the links above and below.