[softbuilder]

As a layperson I go into this thinking that it sounds like "scientists make matter from light" but after reading it seems more like "scientists make fancy electric field with a laser".

I guess "solid" has a technical definition that allows for this sort of interesting interpretation.

[jfengel]

The problem is that the usual definition of "solid" requires a classical understanding of what it means for "a thing to be in a place". With quantum mechanics, places get blurred, so you can have things remain in a rigid structure and flow, simultaneously.

So you read it correctly: scientists made a fancy electric field with a laser.