Physicists have coaxed ultracold atoms into an elusive form of quantum matter
A new experiment produces a material with properties of a ‘quantum spin liquid’
![a hand holding a thin green wire at the end of which is a bright light, surrounded by scientific apparatus](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/120621_ec_quantum_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
Physicists used lasers (one shown) to trap rubidium atoms in a quantum simulator, coaxing them to exhibit the physics of a strange, elusive substance called a quantum spin liquid.
Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer