Physicists have created an exotic quantum state of matter that works at room temperature, without the extreme cooling such states usually demand. The result was published in the journal Science Advances.
The state is called a supersolid. It behaves like a liquid that flows without friction, while also holding the ordered structure of a crystal. Researchers from the University of Warsaw, the Military University of Technology in Poland, IBM Research Zurich and the French National Centre for Scientific Research observed it in a condensate of exciton polaritons, hybrid particles that are part light and part matter.
The team built the state inside a tiny optical cavity filled with liquid crystal and coated with an organic semiconductor. The cavity trapped light and matter together strongly enough for the quantum behaviour to appear at room temperature. Physicist Wiktor Piecek, from the Military University of Technology, said the liquid crystal cavities can operate at temperatures approaching 60 degrees Celsius.
Supersolidity was first observed in 2017, in ultracold atomic gases held close to absolute zero. This version works on a small chip scale and can be controlled with voltage, which the researchers say opens the door to optical sensing and light based computing.
The result comes with limits. The effect was short lived, and the materials degraded over time as the semiconductor reacted with the liquid crystal. The researchers also note that the superfluid side of the behaviour still needs further quantitative testing.
Source: ScienceAlert
