2023.06.30

Mimicking Matter with Light

Experiments that imitate materials with light waves reveal the quantum basis of exotic physical effects

Inside a hexagon-shaped ultrahigh vacuum chamber, physicists use laser optics to create optical lattices that mimic the crystal lattices in solid materials. (Photograph by Spencer Lowell)

Inside a hexagon-shaped ultrahigh vacuum chamber, physicists use laser optics to create optical lattices that mimic the crystal lattices in solid materials. (Photograph by Spencer Lowell)

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