Side view — a modon (dipole vortex pair) traverses the chirality-sheet stack, flip-flopping at each boundary layer
The photon is a modon — a self-propelling dipole vortex pair. Its two lobes spin oppositely, pulling it through the substrate at c. At each chirality boundary, the dipole flip-flops: the leading lobe swaps spin direction to match the new layer's flow. Because counter-spinning vortices sit between co-rotating orbital systems, the modon always encounters complementary currents — never a same-spin barrier. The "springing mattress" of polar jets and counter-vortices opens fluid channels that the modon threads through with zero net energy loss.