Scientists at the University of Bonn have discovered a new phase of the Bose-Einstein condensate in an aggregate state.
Condensate was obtained from photons, placed in a special resonator. In the experiment, two curved mirrors were spaced micrometers apart. The space between them was cooled with a special solution.
Usually, during such experiments, a large number of photons are detected in the object of observation. After moving to a solid-state, they become indistinguishable from each other. As part of a new experiment, semi-transparent mirrors were added to the resonator, allowing the system to neither shift to a solid-state nor dampen vibrations.
This way, a transition state got created between the oscillation phase and the damping phase, where the vibration amplitude decreases. The new phase of the Bose-Einstein condenser is the new state of the light.
The state of Bose-Einstein condensate is reached only when the temperature is close to absolute zero when the atoms in the substance seem to become one particle. Scientists are interested in this condition precisely because it makes it possible to study quantum effects at the microscopic level.
