Bose-Einstein Condensate Acts Like A Crystal

Researchers have recently been able to get a Bose-Einstein Condensate (a highly cooled state of matter where all the atoms in the substance act like a coherent wave) to become crystal-like in its ability to refract light. New Scientist reports that scientists at the Institute for Optics in France were able to make the substance act like a crystal lattice. This suggests that material substances have an underlying crystalline order that can manifest at ultra-cold temperatures.