Photo: UHH/Mathey group The researchers show that with a little bit of "drive", you can tip the balance in favor of the underdog, in this example, the superfluid phase.
When we put water in a freezer, water molecules crystallize and form ice. This change from one phase of matter to another is called a phase transition. While this transition, and countless others that occur in nature, typically takes place at the same fixed conditions, such as the freezing point, one can ask how it can be influenced in a controlled way. We are all familiar with such control of the freezing transition, as it is an essential ingredient in the art of making a sorbet or a slushy. To make a cold and refreshing slushy with the perfect consistency, constant mixing of the liquid is needed. For example, a slush machine with constantly rotating blades helps prevent water molecules from crystalizing and turning the slushy into a solid block of ice. Imagine now controlling quantum matter in this same way.
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