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A new phase for the universal growth of interfaces

Precise optical experiments reveal that quantum excitations in semiconductors share similarities with a host of growing interfaces. The parallels inspire a fresh approach to studying the dynamics of diverse systems in a controllable way.
  1. Sebastian Diehl

    1. Sebastian Diehl is at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne, D-50937 Cologne, Germany.

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What links the spread of a forest fire and the condensed state of quasiparticles called exciton–polaritons — tiny hybrid objects made of light and matter that are found in semiconductors1? Fontaine et al.2 answer this question in a paper in Nature with experiments showing that a property of the wave-like nature of the quasiparticles in the condensate behaves just like an interface: it is governed by a mathematical expression, known as the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang (KPZ) equation3, that describes interfaces ranging from wildfire fronts to the growth of a bacterial colony (Fig. 1). The results suggest that a versatile quantum-optical platform could be used to explore this far-reaching model of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics in a controlled way.

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Nature 608, 669-670 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02117-9

References

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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