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Colloquium : Supersolids: What and where are they?

Supersolid is the name of an exotic quantum phase of matter, combining the seemingly antithetical properties of crystal and superfluid phases. This phase is expected to exist in rather extreme circumstances, for example, in solid helium near absolute zero. Indeed, claims of its experimental observat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reviews of modern physics 2012-05, Vol.84 (2), p.759-776
Main Authors: Boninsegni, Massimo, Prokof’ev, Nikolay V.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Supersolid is the name of an exotic quantum phase of matter, combining the seemingly antithetical properties of crystal and superfluid phases. This phase is expected to exist in rather extreme circumstances, for example, in solid helium near absolute zero. Indeed, claims of its experimental observation have been made. This Colloquium reviews the bulk of the existing phenomenology and offers an interpretation of it, based on theoretical results of first principle computer simulations. Other physical systems in which the supersolid phase might be observed in the laboratory are also described.
ISSN:0034-6861
1539-0756
DOI:10.1103/RevModPhys.84.759