Synthetic magnetism achieved by optical methods: Technique enables unprecedented insights

For the first time, physicists have used laser light to create  synthetic magnetism , an exotic condition in which neutral atoms suddenly begin to behave as if they were charged particles interacting with a magnetic field -- even though no such field is present and the atoms have no charge. The achievement provides unprecedented insights into fundamental physics and the behavior of quantum objects, and opens up entirely new ways to study the nature of condensed-matter systems that were barely imaginable before.