Israeli researchers have discovered new entities created from interaction between matter and light particles, Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) reported Wednesday.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, has several implications in developing quantum applications, fine control of chemical processes and designing new materials.

The difference between light and matter should be a clear and simple division, but there are situations in which the two become so closely connected that the situation becomes blurred.

This can occur, for example, in metallic tiny structures that are tuned to absorb certain wavelengths of visible light.

For this purpose, the WIS team has built a structure made of two triangle-shaped “antennas” facing one another, forming a “bowtie” functioned to absorb light and create a strong electric field.

At the position where the knot would be in the bowtie, the scientists placed a tiny bit of crystalline matter that swallows and reemit light, producing a strong attachment to the matter and creating the new entities.

Using an especially strong microscope in their experiments, the scientists were able create a highly accurate map that revealed the strong attachment created between the light particles and the matter.