Quanta Magazine has declared our research on the ‘Observation of vortices in a dipolar supersolid‘ one of 2024’s Biggest Breakthrough in Physics!
Moving from the largest stage to the very smallest one, physicists who manipulate atoms, molecules and crystals in the lab have also spent 2024 in the throes of discovery, having achieved astonishing levels of precision and control over their quantum quarries. A team in Innsbruck created a long-predicted exotic state of matter called a supersolid, and even imaged the hallmark “quantum tornadoes” that formed when they stirred an otherwise rigid crystal of dysprosium atoms. Astrophysicists suspect that this supersolid phase might arise inside incredibly dense, fast-spinning stars called pulsars.
Read the rest of 2024’s Biggest Breakthroug here: The Year in Physics
Watch the Quanta video, featuring Francesca and PhD student Elena Poli, here: Youtube Explainer
Read the feature by Quanta Magazine here: Physicists spot quantum tornadoes twirling in a supersolid
See the article in Nature here: Observation of vortices in a dipolar supersolid
Read the pre-print here: arXiv:2403.18510.