Researchers observe room temperature supersolid state in light matter hybrids

Phys.org reported that researchers from the University of Warsaw, the Military University of Technology in Poland, IBM Research Zurich, and the French National Centre for Scientific Research have observed a supersolid state of matter at room temperature. The team achieved this phenomenon in an exciton-polariton Bose-Einstein condensate, which combines light and matter components. Previously, supersolid states were typically observed at temperatures near absolute zero. [1]

A supersolid is defined as a spatially ordered crystalline material that simultaneously exhibits superfluid properties, allowing frictionless flow. Physical theories dating back to the 1960s suggested that supersolid states could exist in helium-4, though experimental verification in ambient conditions remained challenging. [2]

The discovery continues a series of recent insights into novel phases of matter. As FTMQ Science reported earlier, physicists recently demonstrated that primordial quark-gluon plasma could form in smaller and lower-energy collisions than previously expected by colliding oxygen nuclei at near light speeds. [3]