A traffic jam of light

Hazzard, Kaden R. A.

doi:10.1038/d41586-019-00348-x

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06 February 2019

A traffic jam of light

A technique that harnesses energy loss has been used to produce a phase of matter in which particles of light are locked in place. This opens a path to realizing previously unseen exotic phases of matter.

Kaden R. A. Hazzard ⁰

Kaden R. A. Hazzard
1. Kaden R. A. Hazzard is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Rice Center for Quantum Materials, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
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When light passes through matter, it slows down. Light can even be brought to a standstill when it travels through carefully designed matter. One way in which this occurs is when the velocity of individual particles of light (photons) in a material is zero. Another, more intriguing, way is when photons, which normally pass through each other unimpeded, are made to repel each other. If the repulsion is strong enough, the photons are unable to move, and the light is frozen in place. Writing in Nature, Ma et al.¹ report that such a phase of matter, known as a Mott insulator, can be produced by exploiting energy loss in a system in which photons move through an array of superconducting circuits.

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Nature 566, 45-46 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00348-x

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