I still can't figure out what the "matter" is exactly. Crystal would suggest a mineral of sorts..
This legitimately seems to be a new phase of matter (rather than a new form of matter
per se) - it's basically a crystal made of normal matter whose periodic structure repeats in time as well as in space, because of the quantum entanglement of their spins. This is not just an artefact of the energy source driving the spin flipping, because the period of oscillation of the structure is
twice that of the driving lasers. In other words, the crystal has settled into it's
own period of oscillation. This means, of course, that it's not in equilibrium but
is in its lowest energy state.
The take-home lesson seems to be that so far scientists have restricted themselves to only analysing a very narrow range of types and phases of matter - insulators and metals, which are forms of matter in equilibrium. It is very likely that
most matter in the universe is
not in equilibrium, which potentially opens up whole new avenues of research.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Marx (Groucho)