A team of researchers from the Milan Polytechnic and the University of Rostock (Germany) discovered and observed in the laboratory a new type of phase transition in a bizarre quasi-crystal made of laser light. The discovery was recently published in the renowned journal Nature and could pave the way for a holistic understanding of the inner workings of complex materials
or artificial and their use in advanced applications based on phase control materials. “The discovery of this new phase transition in quasi-crystals, in addition to representing a turning point in the understanding of some fundamental phenomena of quantum matter, it may in the future open the way to the development and technology of a new type of materials, hitherto completely unknown, in which we will be able to control and modify their properties simultaneously and at will. : a new form of matter much more flexible and controllable than what we know now “ says Stefano Longhi of the Physics Department of the Politecnico di Milano.
A very familiar example of a phase transition is that observed on winter days: small deviations from the 0 ° C temperature they determine whether water exists in its liquid form or as solid ice and snow. Matter also exhibits less perceptible, and therefore less familiar, transitions between states (or phases) which may be equally fundamental to the functioning of many commonly used devices, from computer chips to our mobile phones, for example the capacity or not of a material to conduct electricity, or to exchange energy or particles with the surrounding environment. Using state-of-the-art optical technologies, the team of experimental physicists recently made a quasi-crystal of light (quasi-crystals are not perfectly ordered structures, like crystals, but not completely disordered and are among the rarest structures in nature) and it has been shown that apparently independent properties in this bizarre material are actually intimately linked and can jointly undergo a change sudden.
To study the characteristics of these fascinating materials, a quasi-crystal was emulated in the laboratory with laser light that propagates in an intertwined way in optical fibers that are kilometers long.. The complex dynamics of light in these fibers faithfully mirrors the quantum movement of electrons in the quasi-crystal. During the study of the propagation of light in these systems, a triple phase transition was discovered, in which the topological properties, conductivity and energy exchange between the quasi-crystal and its surroundings change abruptly, but simultaneously.
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