Dark spots in light waves may appear to disrupt the speed of light, according to new research from scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, confirming the predictions of a half-century-old theory.
What the team calls “dark points” are actually vortices – tiny holes in the wave structure of light – as revealed in a newly published paper Natureit can travel faster than light. These vortices are familiar to us on a large scale, appearing in phenomena such as ocean waves or the movement of a soft drink.
Faster than the Speed of Light
In the 1970s, theoretical physicists developed a new theory based on the random interference of waves: that waves can travel faster than the wave from which they originate. In practical terms, this would be like a volcano moving faster than the flow of the river in which it formed. This concept applies widely to many types of waves, including fluids, sound, light, and even superconductors. However, for decades, this theory remained only a hypothesis—until now, with its first experimental evidence.
Reconciling this faster-than-light movement with the Theory of Relativity—which states that nothing can exceed the speed of light—is less difficult than it might seem. The important difference is that these vortices are not material. The speed of light applies to matter, energy and information. Vortices, on the other hand, do not carry any of these, which allows them to travel faster than light without violating the basic laws of nature.
Zero Light Points
The team describes these waves as “nolls” or “zero points” in the light spectrum—places where the intensity of light drops to zero. Measuring these factors in the physical world has been a challenge for a long time. Using a special ultrafast microscopy technique developed at the Technion’s Electron Microscopy Center, the researchers were finally able to track the movement of these waves relative to the waves in which they reside.
To achieve the necessary resolution, the team integrated an opto-mechanical laser into an electron microscope, which enables very short, very precise measurements.
A specially prepared material—hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)—also played an important role. This device converts light waves into hybrid waves of light called polaritons. These polaritons exist between pure light waves and sound waves, which travel much slower than light. Within these slow wave systems, the researchers observed waves that appeared to jump forward at the highest speed.
Effects of Breaking the Speed of Light
Co-author Professor Ido Kaminer said: “Our findings reveal universal laws of nature that are shared by all types of waves, from sound waves and fluid flow to complex systems such as superconductors,” said co-author Professor Ido Kaminer, “This breakthrough provides us with a powerful technological tool: the ability to map light nanoscale phenomena in materials, revealed by a new synthesis method images.”
“We believe that these new microscopy techniques will make it possible to study the hidden mechanisms of physics, chemistry and biology, revealing for the first time how nature behaves in its fast and unusual time,” Kaminer added.
The researchers say their work is not limited to laboratory curiosities; it has potential applications in some of today’s most sought-after technologies. They say their work could provide a new way to pursue quantum information, superconductivity, nanoscale-based optics and microscopy.
The paper, “Superluminal Correlations in Ensembles of Optical Phase Singularities,” appeared in Nature on March 25, 2026.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He has an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be reached at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.
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