Time crystals are one of the most mind-bending concepts in modern physics—so mind-bending, in fact, that even their name feels more at home in Middle-Earth than actual Earth.
While the atoms of normal, everyday crystals are arranged in a repeating pattern in space, time crystals are additionally arranged in a repeating pattern in time—essentially, they are crystals existing in a dimension beyond our typical 3D perception. “It’s a way to kind of have your cake and eat it too” said U.S. Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek, who first conceived of time crystals in 2012.
Time crystals are created similar to how many things are created in advanced physics—through the use of super-cooled atoms (i.e. a Bose-Einstein condensates) and lasers. Although this fascinating new phase of matter could have game-changing applications in the world of quantum computing, they don’t tend to survive very long. In 2022, for example, scientists from Universität Hamburg observed a continuous time crystal, but it only lasted for a few milliseconds.
Now, researchers from TU Dortmund University have created a continuous time crystal that lasted 10 million times longer, at around 40 minutes. To use Wilczek’s own words—that’s a lot of cake.
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