14 DAY TRIAL // University of California in San Diego (UCSD) physicists announced that they were recently able to create a giant matter wave, by trapping and cooling excitons with extreme proficiency. The exotic particles then condensed into a coherent structure that the team is now analyzing.
An exciton is a state that develops between an electron and a hole, and is usually referenced as a quasi-particle. It has a neutral electrical charge, and can usually be found in semiconductors, insulators and certain classes of liquids, e! Science News reports.
According to UCSD professor of physics Leonid Butov, the new condensate could be used to study the fundamental properties of both matter and light, and could yield results that advance physics as a whole. Future applications include the development of extreme computers and efficient solar panels.
This is the first time ever that physicists were able to coerce subatomic particles into forming coherent matter waves inside a trap. Previously, scientists only managed to do this with atoms, which are much larger.