In a recent study published in Nature, the international research team at North Carolina State University details both the underlying process and the specific material requirements for achieving superfluorescence at room temperature. This research could provide a guide for creating materials that exhibit unusual quantum states – like superconductivity, superfluidity, or superfluorescence at higher temperatures.
Perovskites show superfluorescence—quantum coherence from solitons—emerging at high temperatures. Image Credit: Ella Maru Studios
This advancement could pave the way for technologies such as quantum computers that can function without the need for extremely cold operating conditions.
The international research team responsible for this study was led by North Carolina State University and included scientists from Duke University, Boston University, and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris.
In this work, we show both experimental and theoretical reasons behind macroscopic quantum coherence at high temperature. In other words, we can finally explain how and why some materials will work better than others in applications that require exotic quantum states at ambient temperatures.
Kenan Gundogdu, Professor and Study Corresponding Author, Physics, North Carolina State University
Think of a synchronized school of fish or the coordinated blinking of fireflies – these are examples of collective behavior in the natural world. When similar synchronized behavior occurs in the quantum world, it is called a macroscopic quantum phase transition, and it can lead to unusual phenomena like superconductivity, superfluidity, or superfluorescence. In these processes, a collection of quantum particles organizes into a large-scale, unified system that behaves like a single, giant quantum entity.
However, these quantum phase transitions typically require extremely cold, or cryogenic, temperatures to happen. This is because higher temperatures introduce thermal "noise" that disrupts the synchronization of the particles, preventing the transition to the collective quantum state.
In a prior study, Gundogdu and team had determined that the specific atomic arrangement of certain hybrid perovskite materials shielded groups of quantum particles from thermal interference for a sufficient duration to allow the quantum phase transition to occur. In these materials, large polarons – clusters of atoms bound to electrons – formed, effectively insulating the light-emitting dipoles from thermal disturbances and enabling superfluorescence.
In this new research, the scientists discovered the mechanism behind this insulating effect. When they used a laser to excite electrons within the hybrid perovskite they were investigating, they observed large groups of polarons coalescing. This aggregation is termed a soliton.
“Picture the atomic lattice as a fine cloth stretched between two points. If you place solid balls – which represent excitons – on the cloth, each ball deforms the cloth locally. To get an exotic state like superfluorescence you need all the excitons, or balls, to form a coherent group and interact with the lattice as a unit, but at high temperatures thermal noise prevents this,” said Gundogdu.
“The ball and its local deformation together form a polaron. When these polarons transition from a random distribution to an ordered formation in the lattice, they make a soliton, or coherent unit. The soliton formation process dampens the thermal disturbances, which otherwise impede quantum effects,” continued Gundogdu.
A soliton only forms when there is enough density of polarons excited in the material. Our theory shows that if the density of polarons is low, the system has only free incoherent polarons, whereas beyond a threshold density, polarons evolve into solitons.
Mustafa Türe, Ph.D. Student and Study Co-First Author, North Carolina State University
“In our experiments we directly measured the evolution of a group of polarons from an incoherent uncorrelated phase to an ordered phase. This is one of the first direct observations of macroscopic quantum state formation,” said Melike Biliroglu, Postdoctoral Researcher and Study Co-First Author at North Carolina State University.
The research team collaborated with Volker Blum, the Rooney Family Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke University to verify that the formation of solitons indeed mitigates the negative impacts of temperature. Blum's contribution involved calculating the lattice vibrations responsible for thermal interference.
The scientists also worked with Vasily Temnov, a Professor of Physics at CNRS and Ecole Polytechnique, who simulated the recombination dynamics of the soliton when thermal noise was present. Their combined efforts corroborated the experimental findings and confirmed the inherent coherence within the soliton.
This research signifies a significant advancement in our understanding of both the process and the underlying reasons why specific hybrid perovskite materials can exhibit unusual quantum states.
Prior to this work it wasn’t clear if there was a mechanism behind high temperature quantum effects in these materials.
Franky So, Study Co-Author and the Walter and Ida Freeman Distinguished Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University
“This work shows a quantitative theory and backs it up with experimental results. Macroscopic quantum effects such as superconductivity are key to all the quantum technologies we are pursuing – quantum communication, cryptology, sensing, and computation – and all of them are currently limited by the need for low temperatures. But now that we understand the theory, we have guidelines for designing new quantum materials that can function at high temperatures, which is a huge step forward,” said Gundogdu.
This research received funding from the Department of Energy, Office of Science. Additional contributors to this study include researchers Xixi Qin and Uthpala Herath from Duke University, Anna Swan from Boston University, and Antonia Ghita from the Institut Polytechnique de Paris.
Journal Reference:
Biliroglu, M., et al. (2025) Unconventional solitonic high-temperature superfluorescence from perovskites. Nature. doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09030-x