A team of physicists have engineered a spiral laser beam and used it to form a whirlpool of hybrid-laser light particles. This recent breakthrough with lasers could lead to developments that link conventional electronics with laser and fiber-based technologies.

The particles called "politrons" have the properties of both matter and light. They transform into semiconductors during the interaction of laser light with electrons and holes. They're so strong light can't be distinguished from matter.

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Creating and controlling the vortices or the circulating currents of politrons have been a challenge for physicists, noted Dr. Elena Ostrovskaya from the Research School of Physics and Engineering at the Australian National University.

Dr. Ostrovskaya added they've managed to create a circulating flow of these hybrid particles and sustain it for hours.

The team created the spiral beam by putting a laser beam through a brass with a spiral pattern of holes in it. The laser was directed into the semiconductor microcavity, which was made from a tiny wafer of aluminum gallium arsenide (a material found in LEDs) inserted between two reflectors.

Previously, the vortices randomly appeared in pairs, swirling in opposite directions. By using a spiral mask to structure the laser, however, the team created a chiral system that flows in one direction.

The new controllable single, stable vortex is an example of quantum fluid behavior where polaritons unite into a rare state of matter commonly known as a Bose-Einstein condensate.

Dr. Ostrovskaya said the new polaritonic vortices not only open a window into the quantum world, but could also be used to construct highly sensitive detectors of electromagnetic fields, such as the SQUIDS (Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices).

The new experiment, detailed in the journal Physical Review Letters, could also be assigned as quantum information carriers.

Since polaritonics is a rapidly developing research field all around the world, the ANU team hopes to build a network of groups researching the experiment across Australia and joining the international effort.