A new CNRS communication about our quantum fish

Our latest work, featured by CNRS Physique, reveals a new form of propulsion in a quantum fluid of light. Above the critical velocity, an optical obstacle can spontaneously move upstream, against the flow.

The effect is driven by pairs of vortices emitted in the obstacle’s wake: by carrying momentum backwards, they propel the obstacle forwards. This surprising quantum analogue of a fish swimming upstream was observed directly in our fluid-of-light experiment and is reported in Physical Review Letters.

Illustration: M. Baker-Rasooli et al. / CNRS Physique