Researchers observed a light-and-matter condensate with crystal-like patterns and signs of superfluidity in an electrically tunable device that works without extreme cooling.
A quantum material can hold the orderly pattern of a crystal while behaving like a frictionless fluid. An international team has observed that unusual combination in a device operating at room temperature, using particles made from light and matter rather than atoms chilled near absolute zero.
The state is called a supersolid. Its defining puzzle is that two properties normally associated with different phases of matter appear together: a repeating internal structure, like a crystal, and the flow behavior of a superfluid. The new result, published in Science Advances, offers a way to investigate this exotic physics without the extreme cooling required in many earlier experiments.
The idea of a supersolid dates to proposals in the 1960s. Experimental evidence came in 2017, when researchers observed supersolidity in ultracold atomic condensates. The new approach does not replace those experiments, but provides another route to studying quantum behavior under less demanding temperature conditions.
The team included scientists from the University of Warsaw, Poland’s Military University of Technology, IBM Research Zurich and France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), working through the TopoLight consortium. They used exciton polaritons: hybrid particles formed when light and matter interact strongly inside a tiny optical chamber, or microcavity. Each particle lasts only a few picoseconds—a trillionth of a second—but the particles can act collectively as a quantum condensate.
To build the system, researchers combined a nematic liquid crystal with two layers of the organic semiconductor MeLPPP. Liquid-crystal-induced Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling created two equivalent energy minima, helping the condensate enter the supersolid regime. Unlike experiments based on ultracold atoms, this platform works at room temperature.
The evidence appeared in the light emitted by the device. Researchers saw regularly spaced bright fringes, indicating that the condensate had developed a repeating pattern in its density. The fringes shifted position from one laser pulse to another: the system spontaneously selected among several equivalent arrangements. Physicists call this spontaneous symmetry breaking.
The team also detected randomly appearing quantum vortices, supporting the presence of superfluid behavior. And the emitted light showed a persistent spin helix, a repeating change in its polarization—the orientation of its electric field. The condensate thus displayed two kinds of order at once, one in light intensity and another in polarization.
The platform is electrically tunable: applying voltage can alter its optical properties. That control could help researchers study how the quantum state forms and responds to change. The researchers also point to possible future uses in ultrafast photonic devices, neuromorphic computing accelerators and polarization-sensitive sensors. These are prospective applications, not capabilities demonstrated by the experiment.
There is a practical catch. The organic semiconductor gradually reacts with the liquid crystal, leaving researchers only a few hours to take measurements after assembling a sample. Repeating an experiment requires fabricating a new one, so the team planned its measurement sequence in advance. IBM Research Zurich deposited the semiconductor films and performed key measurements on photonic structures made at the Military University of Technology.
The finding is a starting point, not a finished technology. Researchers will need to establish how reliably the effect can be produced, how precisely voltage can control it and whether its optical behavior can perform useful tasks. For now, the result provides a new experimental route: a quantum state associated with demanding ultracold setups can be explored in an electrically adjustable photonic device at room temperature.
Mason Reed serves as a Staff Writer for Just Right News, where he spearheads the Future Frontiers & Special Projects desk. In an era defined by rapid technological shifts and evolving social landscapes, Mason provides a steady, principled voice, examining the innovations of tomorrow through the lens of traditional American values. His work is most prominently featured in his signature series, “The Next Horizon,” where he explores the intersection of emerging technology, national sovereignty, and the preservation of individual liberty.
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