time crystals are here!

Hey there time bandits, it’s Trace for DNews.

Physicists have created a new form of matter called TIME CRYSTALS!

No, it’s not the time crystals you may have seen on Rick and Morty.

These time crystals have properties we haven’t seen in other matter.

Usually, matter is motionless at its resting state and only has potential energy until

kinetic energy is introduced to it.

For example, a ball at rest is chock-full of ‘potential energy’, and when it’s

kicked, that energy is converted to ‘kinetic energy’, the energy of motion.

But time crystals actually move at their ‘resting state’ or their ‘ground state’ — that’s

when atoms have the lowest amount of energy.

They’re like a ball that is forever in motion.

In other words, they are always unstable, down to the atomic level.

They are the first non-equilibrium matter ever created!

Regular crystals are an arrangement of atoms in repeated three dimensional patterns, called

a lattice.

The patterns are duplicated through space, whereas time crystals duplicate their patterns

through space AND time.

They are essentially 4 dimensional crystals!

The concept of time crystals was first theorized by Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek in 2012.

He surmised that there could be hypothetical matter that could move periodically even while

in a ‘ground state’.

In theory, the time crystals could move without the application of energy because they would

be designed to be inherently unstable, breaking the symmetry of time, resulting in atoms that

are in perpetual motion.

Once the theory of time crystals was out in the ether, researchers focused on coming up

with methods to create this new matter that could break time symmetry.

A blueprint was created and posted online in August 2016.

The author called his paper, quote, "the bridge between the theoretical idea and the experimental

implementation".

Two teams, one from University of Maryland and one from Harvard, took the basic ‘blueprint’

of how to make time crystals and got to work.

Both teams were successful but used different methods to achieve the same results.

The University of Maryland created their time crystals with a line of 10 ytterbium (it-er-be-um)

ions.

Within these ions, the spins of their electrons were entangled.

The researchers’ goal was to interrupt the ions’ normal equilibrium.

To do this, they used two lasers, one to flip the ions and a second laser to create a magnetic

field.

The first laser flipped ions over, causing them to interact with other ions, making them

flip over, all within the magnetic field created by the second laser.

This process continued until all the ions were oscillating, or spinning.

This was considered normal behavior for a regular crystal, but researchers noticed something

strange.

As the lasers continued to nudge the ions, they realized that the ions were now reacting

more frequently than they were being nudged.

According to researcher Norman Yao, this is like jiggling jello and having it move when

you weren’t poking it.

Researchers had essentially broke the time symmetry and created a new form of non-equilibrium

matter that continued moving at its ‘ground state’!

Voila!

A time crystal!

Researchers at Harvard went about creating their time crystal differently.

Instead of ytterbium ions, they used nitrogen vacancy centers, which are certain impurities

found in diamonds.

And instead of using lasers, Harvard researchers used microwaves to cause the ions in the diamonds

to flip and oscillate.

Different method, same result: time crystals.

This new form of matter could lead to future breakthroughs in quantum computing and understanding

the various forms matter can ultimately take.

Researchers have also remarked that their creation of time crystals is evidence that

time symmetry can be broken and that non-equilibrium matter CAN exist.

If you want to know more about quantum computing, check out Crystal’s video on quantum computers

here!

Let us know down in the comments what you think about time crystals, if they blow your

mind a little bit, make sure you subscribe for more DNews and thanks for watching.