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Physicists at the Australian National University (ANU) have engineered a scientific breakthrough, creating a spiral laser beam and using it to manufacture a whirlpool of hybrid light-matter particles.
The particles, named polaritons, harvest both matter and light and have the ability to aid further development of this type of technology.
Attempts to create the polaritons had long proved difficult for scientists at the ANU and represent a sizable discovery.
"Creating circulating currents of polaritons vortices and controlling them has been a long-standing challenge," Dr Elena Ostrovskaya, the team leader from the Research School of Physics and Engineering at the ANU, said on Monday.
"We can now create a circulating flow of these hybrid particles and sustain it for hours."
The spiral laser beam was engineered by fitting a laser through brass, which was defined by several patterned holes, causing an interaction so strong that distinguishing light from matter became impossible.
"The vortices have previously only appeared randomly and always in pairs that swirl in opposite directions," team member Dr Robert Dall said.
"However, by using a spiral mask to structure our laser, we create a chiral system that prefers one flow direction. Therefore we can create a single, stable vortex at will."
ANU scientists hope the discovery will enable other research groups from around Australia to further develop the study of polaritons.
"As well as being a window into the quantum world, these polaritonic vortices could be used to construct extremely sensitive detectors of electromagnetic fields, similar to SQUIDS ( Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices)," said Dr Ostrovskaya.
"Polaritonics is a rapidly developing research field all around the world. We hope we can build on a network of groups researching these devices across Australia and joining the international effort."
