Quantum ‘supersolid’ matter stirred using magnets


industrial lasers

Supersolids, created using lasers, have some unusual properties

Chris Rogers/Getty Images

Some solids can be stirred. Researchers have shown that a bizarre quantum state of matter that is both a solid and a frictionless fluid at the same time can be agitated, apparently creating a series of tiny vortices inside the material. The experiment is evidence of the progress being made in understanding the strange properties of so-called “supersolids”.

“I’ve never done, in all my life, such a challenging experiment,” says Francesca Ferlaino at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. In 2022,…

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