A stream of superfluid light

Scientists have known for centuries that light is composed of waves. The fact that light can also behave as a liquid, rippling and spiraling around obstacles like the current of a river, is a much more recent finding that is still a subject of active research. The "liquid" properties of light emerge under special circumstances, when the photons that form the light wave are able to interact with each other.

Researchers from CNR NANOTEC of Lecce in Italy, in collaboration with Polytechnique Montreal in Canada have shown that for light "dressed" with electrons, an even more dramatic effect occurs. Light become superfluid, showing frictionless flow when flowing across an obstacle and reconnecting behind it without any ripples. Read more here, here, here, and here.