Researchers unlocked a new shortcut to quantum materials

That idea may sound like fantasy, but it sits at the heart of an emerging area of physics known as Floquet engineering. Researchers in this field study how repeating influences, such as carefully tuned light, can temporarily reshape the way electrons behave inside a material. When this happens, a familiar substance like a semiconductor can briefly take on unusual properties, including behaviors normally associated with superconductors.

Although the basic theory behind F...