Light usually travels in straight paths, but what if it was twisted, spun, and behaved like a mini-tornado? Scientists have now made this possible by creating optical vortices—small swirling particles of light in a microscopic system.
Until now, generating such complex light systems required multiple setups or complex nanostructures, making it difficult to scale. A new study changes this by using surprisingly simple materials called water crystals.
This new trend is not just a visual trick. It could change the way we build lasers, communication devices, and even future quantum technologies.
“Our solution combines several fields of physics, from quantum mechanics, through material engineering, to optics and solid state physics,” said Jacek Szczytko, one of the authors of the study and a physicist at the University of Warsaw.
Catching light in crystal whirlpools of water
The team was inspired by quantum physics, where electrons carry a certain amount of energy inside atoms. They reinvented the same idea for light—not by trapping electrons, but by trapping photons (particles of light).
To do this, they used liquid crystals, materials that flow like liquids but have an ordered internal structure like solids. Inside these devices, the researchers created tiny obstacles called torons.
The torons “can be considered as tightly twisted spirals, similar to DNA, in which crystal molecules of water are arranged. If such a spiral is closed by joining its ends in a donut-like ring, we get a toron,” said Mędrzycka.
These torons act as microscopic traps for light. However, simply catching the light was not enough—it was also necessary to distort it.
Light that bends with artificial gravity
This is where things get interesting. Light does not usually respond to gravity the way charged particles, such as electrons, do. So researchers created artificial gravity instead.
This was not gravity, but a carefully designed effect in the water crystal. They achieved this using birefringence, where light of different polarizations travels differently through a material.
By making this effect vary across space, they forced the light to behave as if it were under a magnetic field—which caused it to bend and spin, just like electrons traveling in circular paths.
“We call it ‘artificial’ because its mathematical interpretation is similar to the behavior of gravity, although physically it is not there. As a result, the light begins to ‘bend,’ like electrons traveling in cyclotron orbits,” Piotr Kapuściński, one of the authors of the study and professor of physics at the University of Warsaw.
To enhance and stabilize this behavior, the team placed the system inside an optical microcavity—a structure made of mirrors that bounce light back and forth. This keeps the light locked in for a long time, enhancing the effect. They could even modify the system using external power, adjusting the size of the trap and the material of the light.
Great success followed. Ordinarily, spin light (which carries orbital angular momentum) only appears in strong, unstable regions. However, here, the researchers were able to reproduce it in the ground.
“For the first time, we have been able to find this effect in the ground, that is, the lowest energy. This is important because the ground is the most stable and the easiest for energy collection,” Guillaume Malpuech, one of the authors of the study and a professor at the Université Clermont Auvergne in France, said.
To prove that this ground state could support efficient lasers, the team installed a laser dye.
This resulted in “light that not only rotates but also behaves like laser light: it is compact and has a well-defined energy and direction of exit,” Marcin Muszyński, first author of the study, added.
From swirling photon to next-gen tech
This work shows that complex lighting structures do not always require complex engineering. By using self-organizing materials such as liquid crystals, scientists can create stable, rotating light in a simple and biodegradable way.
This could lead to integrated lasers with new properties, improved communication systems, and better tools for quantum computing and information processing. It can also help in controlling very small things, as structured light can provide the right energy.
However, research is still in its early stages. These systems need to be tested for stability, performance, and true integration into devices. Therefore, enhancing them while maintaining control over the light behavior will be the focus of future research.
The study was published in the journal Advances in Science.
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