Scientists of the University of Bonn in Germany discovered a new phase state in an exotic form of matter called Bose Einstein condensate and consisting of photons. This is reported in an article published in the SCIENCE journal.
Condensate Bose Einstein from photons is usually obtained using a resonator consisting of two curved mirrors located at a distance of a slightly more micrometer from each other. In this case, the space inside the resonator is filled with a solution that “cools” photons, due to which they take the same quantum mechanical state, becoming indistinguishable from each other. To some extent, condensate can be represented as one gigantic “superchast”.
In a new study, scientists have added translucent mirrors, which do not give the system to achieve a stable state and begins to fluctuate, which creates a transition state between the oscillation phase and the attenuation phase at which the vibration amplitude decreases. The observed phase corresponded to the new state of the light field.