Amazing (exotic) stuff! That is quite a super headline!
"Supersolids are a new form of quantum matter that has only recently been demonstrated. The state of matter can be produced artificially in ultracold, dipolar quantum gases. A team ... has now demonstrated a missing hallmark of superfluidity, namely the existence of quantized vortices as a system's response to rotation. They have observed tiny quantum vortices in the supersolid, which also behave differently than previously assumed. ...
Yet, more than 50 years ago, physicists predicted that quantum mechanics allows such a state, where a collection of indistinguishable particles can simultaneously exhibit seemingly contradictory properties. ...
Yet, more than 50 years ago, physicists predicted that quantum mechanics allows such a state, where a collection of indistinguishable particles can simultaneously exhibit seemingly contradictory properties. ...
Now, in a major breakthrough, quantized vortices have finally been observed in a rotating two-dimensional supersolid, providing the long-awaited confirmation of irrotational superfluid flow into a supersolid and marking a critical step forward in the study of modulated quantum matter. ..."
From the abstract:
"Supersolids are states of matter that spontaneously break two continuous symmetries: translational invariance owing to the appearance of a crystal structure and phase invariance owing to phase locking of single-particle wavefunctions, responsible for superfluid phenomena. Although originally predicted to be present in solid helium, ultracold quantum gases provided a first platform to observe supersolids, with particular success coming from dipolar atoms. Phase locking in dipolar supersolids has been investigated through, for example, measurements of the phase coherence and gapless Goldstone modes, but quantized vortices, a hydrodynamic fingerprint of superfluidity, have not yet been observed. Here, with the prerequisite pieces at our disposal, namely a method to generate vortices in dipolar gases and supersolids with two-dimensional crystalline order, we report on the theoretical investigation and experimental observation of vortices in the supersolid phase (SSP). Our work reveals a fundamental difference in vortex seeding dynamics between unmodulated and modulated quantum fluids. This opens the door to study the hydrodynamic properties of exotic quantum systems with numerous spontaneously broken symmetries, in disparate domains such as quantum crystals and neutron stars."
Quantum vortices confirm superfluidity in supersolid (original news release)
Observation of vortices in a dipolar supersolid (no public access)
Simulation of quantum vortices superimposed with experimental data.
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