What If Metals Could Conduct Light?
Department of Energy, Office of ScienceConventional metals cannot conduct light in their interiors, but scientists have discovered that in the quantum metal ZrSiSe, electrons can give rise to plasmons. These are collective oscillations in a material that are strong and long lived, and they can combine with photons to form new modes called polaritons that can carry photons along zig-zag paths in the material.