Ten Times Scientists Created Astonishing New States of Matter

Most people are well aware of the three main states of matter: solids, liquids, and gases. Some might even know about plasma, a fourth state made of charged particles and found throughout the universe. But how about swirlons? Does the phrase Rydberg polaron mean anything to you?

As scientists expand their understanding of the universe, they keep discovering more and more baffling, exotic states of matter. Here are ten astonishing breakthroughs in modern science where researchers created new forms of matter. Who knows what intriguing new states the future has in store?

Related: 10 Science Myths That Persist Despite Being Dead Wrong

10 U.S. Team Discovers Half Ice, Half Fire in Magnetic Compound

On New Year’s Eve 2024, two physicists unveiled that they had discovered a new state of matter while studying a magnetic compound. Weiguo Yin and Alexei Tsvelik nicknamed the finding “half ice, half fire.” The researchers, who work for the U.S. Department of Energy at Brookhaven National Laboratory, believe it could pave the way for advances in areas like quantum computing.

So, what is this new state of matter? It all centers around the behavior of electrons. Electrons are minuscule particles that whizz around atoms. Each one has a tiny magnetic moment, and those magnetic moments fall into two groups. They can be described as spin up, meaning they are highly ordered in so-called “cold” cycles, or they can be spin down, disordered, and “hot.” This new state of matter can switch sharply from one phase to the other, hence, “half ice, half fire.” It has a twin, “half fire, half ice,” first discovered by the same duo back in 2016.^[1]

9 Scientists Create Liquid Light at Room Temperature

If that last entry confused you, wait until you try to get your head around the idea of light as a liquid. In 2018, scientists demonstrated that light can behave as a superfluid. A superfluid is an extraordinary state of matter. They flow without any friction. This means if you swirl a superfluid, it will carry on spiraling forever.

Usually, scientists can only form superfluids for a split second using extreme cold. However, a team from Italy and Canada created this bizarre matter from liquid light at room temperature. They blasted a thin stretch of organic molecules with a sharp laser pulse. As the light and molecules came together, they created a liquid light superfluid. Scientists reckon the discovery could help improve devices like LEDs and solar panels.^[2]

8 Swirlon Particles Leave Physicists’ Minds Boggled

Newton’s second law of motion is a pillar of classical physics. It tells us that if you apply more force to an object, its acceleration rises. Are there exceptions to this longstanding law? Sure, any object that can move of its own accord. Researchers in England applied this exception to particle physics. The team created a computer model of moving particles. The self-propelling specs acted like bacteria. They had internal energy but no conscious control over their movement.

Researchers were flummoxed by what they saw. The tiny particles gathered together in circular structures, which the team dubbed “swirlons.” They described this simulated state of matter as a “swirlonic state.” Particles in this state start to break the rules of physics. They do not accelerate when force is applied, defying Newton’s second law. Scientists hope further study of swirlons can help them understand how animals form swarms and flocks.^[3]

7 U.S. and Japanese Researchers Announce Bosonic Correlated Insulator

In September 2023, a team of physicists announced a new, unusual state of matter. They called their new state a bosonic correlated insulator. Researchers from California, Arizona, and Japan worked on the project, which could offer scientists a new way of looking at the universe.

This exotic state of matter is made of tiny particles known as excitons. Excitons form when negatively charged electrons bind with positively charged holes, which are spaces caused by the absence of electrons. The scientists created a crystal of excitons between two thin, tungsten-based strips. They shone intense light on the lattices in a technique known as pump-probe spectroscopy. In the end, the excitons clustered together to form a dense, crystalline structure and a new state of matter.^[4]

6 Scientists Blast Strontium Atoms to Create Rydberg Polaron

In science, bizarre things tend to happen at extremely low temperatures. One of them is a new state of matter known as the Rydberg polaron. In 2018, researchers in the U.S. and Austria created the astonishing state by shoving atoms into the space between a nucleus and its orbiting electron.

The team cooled strontium atoms to a whisker above absolute zero, then shocked one of them with a laser pulse. The electrons in the blasted atom gain energy and start whizzing around further away from the nucleus. This creates a gap of several hundred nanometers in which other atoms can cluster. The huddled atoms begin to interact weakly. Scientists say that although the bond is fragile, they have formed a fascinating new state of quantum matter.

“For us, this new, weakly bound state of matter is an exciting new possibility of investigating the physics of ultracold atoms,” explained Austrian physicist Joachim Burgdörfer. “That way, one can probe the properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate on very small scales with very high precision.”^[5]

5 Physicists Reveal Bizarre Supersolid Made Out of Light

We have already heard in this list about how scientists turned light into a liquid. Now, the 2025 study in which light becomes not just a solid but a supersolid. Supersolids are a strange hybrid of solid and liquid at once. They are a quantum state of matter where particles line up in an ordered structure but flow smoothly with no viscosity. They are a fascinating, exotic state of matter that only forms at extremely low temperatures.

In this experiment, researchers shone a laser on a sculpted piece of gallium arsenide. As the light interacted with grooves in the metal, it formed tiny particles called polaritons. Polaritons are a unique mix of light and matter. The shape of the metal forces the particles into a supersolid structure. Scientists say this study helps them better understand the surreal world of quantum physics.^[6]

4 Harvard Team Produces First Quantum Spin Liquid After Decades of Theories

The concept of quantum spin liquids (QSLs) has been around since the 1970s. Scientists theorized that the exotic state of matter could exist in magnetic materials. The electrons are in constant flux, darting around in a complex quantum tangle of inverse spin states.

In a 2021 study, Harvard researchers took that wild idea from the textbook to the lab. They used lasers to build a lattice of rubidium atoms, placing them one by one into a triangle pattern. They also engineered the desired quantum properties to form a QSL. The team hopes their cutting-edge discovery can play a key role in the quantum computer field.

“It is a very special moment in the field,” quantum physicist Mikhail Lukin told reporters. “You can really touch, poke, and prod at this exotic state and manipulate it to understand its properties. It’s a new state of matter that people have never been able to observe.”^[7]

3 Astronauts Generate Bose-Einstein Condensate on ISS

In 2020, researchers aboard the International Space Station created a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), an exotic form of matter that provides deeper insight into the quantum realm. BECs were first generated on Earth decades ago, while the idea dates back over a century to Einstein. Scientists cool a cluster of atoms to just above absolute zero. In extreme cold, the atoms are drained of energy, so they coalesce and behave like one unit.

The main barrier to BEC research on Earth is gravity. Quantum systems are so fragile that the pull of Earth often impedes studies. So scientists took to the skies, using the space station’s microgravity to create the Cold Atom Lab. The cosmonaut crew used rubidium atoms to form BECs. They found that the exotic matter is more stable in space and can occur at even lower temperatures than on Earth.^[8]

2 Scientists Fire Laser at Dye to Form 1D Gas Made of Light

You have probably heard of gas lights, but in a 2024 study, researchers made a gas out of light. The one-dimensional gas is made of photons, particles of light, packed into a confined space in extreme cold. Researchers at the University of Bonn fired a laser into a mirrored vessel filled with dye. The laser photons bounced around in the container until the dye particles depleted their energy. The light particles condensed into a line as they cooled, forming a 1D gas.

Scientists have created 2D photon gases before, but this new 1D version is a remarkable feat of science. The German team says that photons in a line are far more susceptible to changes in temperature.

“Things are a little different when we create a one-dimensional gas instead of a two-dimensional one,” says study author Frank Vewinger. “So-called thermal fluctuations occur in photon gasses but are so small in two dimensions that they have no real impact. However, in one dimension, these fluctuations can—figuratively speaking—make big waves.”^[9]

1 Time Crystals, the Mind-Bending Quantum State that Warps Time

Time crystals—the enthralling, dynamic state of matter that pushes back against ideas of time as we know them. Particles in a time crystal will arrange themselves in several ways. They form different, repeating patterns that cause the crystals to buzz. In theory, time crystals should carry on with this dynamic behavior forever, like a clock that never needs to change its batteries.

In 2025, researchers at Washington University in the U.S. unveiled a new state of matter called a quasicrystal. They claim this breakthrough expands on the idea of time crystals. In typical time crystals, the particles change patterns at regular intervals. The Washington team says these new quasicrystals “are ordered but apparently not periodic.” The patterns do not repeat.

Creating the crystals was no mean feat. Scientists blasted a tiny diamond with a microwave laser. This excited the particles to take on different patterns. With further research, physicists say time crystals have a wealth of uses. The new state of matter could power various devices, from sensors and watches to quantum computers.^[10]

fact checked by
Darci Heikkinen