Time Crystals – A Form of Matter That Changes Everything
Of all the names that have science fiction connotations, perhaps none are as mysterious or seemingly impossible as time crystals. The name may make you think of the movie “Back to the Future,” but the reality is much more interesting than the movie.
Two different teams of researchers recently reported observing time crystals, or temporal crystals, which reinforces the idea that this theoretical state of matter can be created and observed.
And indeed, these crystals can be grown even in a child’s bedroom! You’ve probably heard of crystal growing kits. But it takes nuclear sensors and lasers to help them reach their full potential.
Read on to understand what they are and how they could influence our lives.
What are time crystals?
The story begins in 2012, with the publication of an article in Physical Review Letters by Frank Wilczek, Nobel Prize laureate in 2004. In this article, Wilczek theoretically described these crystals.
Time crystals are systems of atoms that arrange themselves in time just as traditional solids arrange themselves in space.
Traditional crystals like salt and quartz are three-dimensional spatially ordered crystals. Their atoms are arranged in a predictable, repeating pattern.
Wilczek wondered if it was possible to extend the idea of three-dimensional crystals to four-dimensional structures, meaning that we could include time along with spatial dimensions, or, if you like, create 4D crystals.
Thus, a time crystal would periodically change, always returning to its original form. In other words, it would pulsate endlessly, without any external energy input, like a mechanical clock that should never be turned back.
It should be noted that these atomic arrangements are not time-travel portals, but rather a completely new state of matter – independent of the familiar solids, liquids, and gases that comprise our known universe.
Less than six years after Wilczek’s paper was published, the two groups of scientists mentioned above created crystals that appear to possess properties similar to those he proposed.
Time crystals never find equilibrium as diamond or ruby do, so they are now considered one of the few examples of non-equilibrium matter known to scientists.
Time crystals in the real world
You’re probably wondering what time crystals look like, whether you’d recognize one if you saw one, and what use they might be to us.
The most important thing is that these crystals fundamentally only exist in limited laboratory circumstances, specifically when scientists have given them a boost to trigger their oscillation.
Once they oscillate, they seem to transmit energy indefinitely. The Harvard group’s experiment produced a crystal that, once activated, glowed as a result of its periodic reverberations of energy.
On the other hand, the Yale team used nuclear magnetic resonance and discovered time crystals in a surprising set of matter – monoammonium phosphate crystals. These crystals are remarkably easy to grow and are often included in children’s crystal sets.
Thus, if laser or microwave pulses are added to apparently solid objects, we could discover these constant oscillations in atomic matter throughout the universe, and some forms of time crystals could be much more interesting than those observed so far.
Applications in the future
Researchers believe that studying time crystals and improving our understanding of them will enable breakthroughs in the power and accuracy of atomic clocks, gyroscopes, and magnetometers, as well as further developing how we build potential quantum technologies.
The promise of using stable quantum systems at operating temperatures much higher than we can currently achieve could be the final push needed to make quantum computing a reality.
The U.S. Department of Defense has announced a funding program to investigate more potential applications of time crystals, as quantum computing is one of the most promising technological horizons of the computer age.
Yes, time crystals sound like something straight out of a science fiction novel. But the more we understand how they work, the more we begin to realize how much potential they hold.
As we begin to address the limitations of the number of transistors that can be physically included in a microchip, time crystals may be the solution that opens up radically new methods of computing.
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Sursa: livescience.com, sciencealert.com, resonancescience.org, physics.aps.org.
Foto: E. Edwards/JQI.
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