For the first time, researchers have transformed light into a “‘supersolid” — a strange state of matter that is both solid and liquid at the same time.
Although scientists have made supersolids out of atoms before, this is the first instance of coupling light and matter to create a supersolid and it opens new doors for studying condensed-matter physics, researchers explained in a paper published March 5 in journal Science.
But what exactly is a supersolid, and why is this new development so exciting? Here’s everything you need to know.