The research could lead to a better understanding of extreme astrophysical environments and the development of compact high-energy radiation sources for science.

Known as “pair-density waves,” it may be key to understanding how superconductivity can exist at relatively high temperatures.

Just as pressing a guitar string produces a higher pitch, sending laser light through a material can shift it to higher energies and higher frequencies. Now scientists have discovered how to use this phenomenon to explore quantum materials in a new and much more detailed way.

Theory suggests that quantum critical points may be analogous to black holes as places where all sorts of strange phenomena can exist in a quantum material. Now scientists are trying to pin down where this particular quantum critical point might be.