More than fifty years ago, Sir Roger Penrose proposed a fascinating concept where energy could be extracted from a rapidly spinning black hole. In his theory, a particle entering the black hole’s ergosphere—the region surrounding the black hole where space itself is dragged by its rotation—could split into two. One fragment would be absorbed by the black hole while the other could escape with more energy than the original particle. Building upon this, physicist Yakov Zel’dovich predicted that waves interacting with a fast-rotating object could similarly tap into its rotational energy and emerge amplified.
Now, a research team at the Advanced Science Research Center (CUNY ASRC) has turned these theoretical ideas into experimental reality. Publishing their findings in Nature, the scientists devised a novel radio-frequency device that mimics rotation at speeds unattainable by mechanical means. Instead of physically spinning matter, they engineered a synthetic rotation by modulating the device’s properties in space and time. This synthetic ultrafast rotation allows unprecedented exploration of wave amplification phenomena predicted by Penrose and Zel’dovich.
The device consists of a ring-shaped network of electronic resonators whose characteristics are rapidly and precisely modulated to create a traveling wave pattern around the loop. Although the physical device remains stationary, electromagnetic waves passing through perceive a system rotating at superluminal speeds. Under these conditions, waves with specific rotational patterns extract energy from this synthetic rotation, resulting in significant amplification akin to the Penrose–Zel’dovich effect.
According to Andrea Alù, the lead principal investigator, this approach establishes a new paradigm for wave-matter interaction, providing broadband selective amplification through engineered time-dependent metamaterials. The success of these experiments bridges the gap between abstract astrophysical concepts and practical laboratory applications. It also opens new frontiers for investigating wave dynamics under extreme rotational conditions, previously considered experimentally inaccessible.
Post-doctoral researcher Hadiseh Nasari emphasizes that this breakthrough has profound implications not only for fundamental physics but also for advanced applications in communications, optics, and photonics. The synthetic rotation framework offers a unique platform for simulating relativistic phenomena typically only observable in cosmic environments.
The researchers highlight that these findings pave the way for extending such ultrafast rotating schemes into photonic and quantum regimes. Potential future technologies could exploit these effects for enhanced light manipulation, quantum information processing, and innovative wave-based devices, transforming how we harness and control electromagnetic signals.
Supported by the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the Simons Foundation, this work stands as a milestone in experimental physics, offering a versatile toolkit to study and utilize rotational super-radiance and related phenomena with broad scientific and technological impact.
Subject of Research: Not applicable
Article Title: Observation of Floquet rotational super-radiance
News Publication Date: July 8, 2026
Web References: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10725-y
References: 10.1038/s41586-026-10725-y
Image Credits: Dalila Pasotti and Hadiseh Nasari
Keywords
Physical sciences, Electromagnetism, Electromagnetic properties, Optics, Mechanics, Energy, Experimental physics
