Technion team observes superluminal optical vortices in hexagonal boron nitride
Scientists have managed to capture something pretty wild: optical vortices (think of them as tiny holes in light) zipping along even faster than the speed of light.
These aren't particles but twists in the shape of light waves, and because they don't carry mass or information; they're not breaking any physics rules.
The team at Technion Israel Institute of Technology used a special material called hexagonal boron nitride to spot these elusive vortices, and the research just dropped in Nature.
High-speed electron microscope watches vortices collide
By using a high-speed electron microscope, the researchers could actually watch these super-fast vortices collide and move around in real time.
This breakthrough could change how we study ultra-fast processes across physics, chemistry, and biology, and might help us understand how light interacts with matter on a whole new level.