Physicists develop highly robust time crystal

Phys.org  February 1, 2024 Crystals spontaneously break the continuous translation symmetry of free space. An international team of researchers (Germany, Russia) demonstrated a robust continuous time crystal in an electron–nuclear spin system of a semiconductor tailored by tuning the material composition. Continuous, time-independent external driving of the sample produced periodic auto-oscillations with a coherence time exceeding hours. Varying the experimental parameters revealed wide ranges in which the time crystal remained stable. At the edges of these ranges, they found chaotic behaviour with a lifted periodicity corresponding to the melting of the crystal. According to the researchers time crystal state enabled […]

Photonic Time Crystals Generated From Rapid Shifts in Laser Light

Science Alert  July 15, 2023 Scientists experimenting with some of the most fundamental laws of physics have found more evidence of photonic time crystals (PTCs): materials in which the refractive index oscillates very quickly. An international team of researchers (Israel, USA – University of Perdue) trained lasers on two transparent conducting oxides and used the lasers to rapidly change the refractive index for periods less than 10 femtoseconds. They observed significant shifts in the light frequency and in the light relaxation time depending on the thickness of the material and the speed with which the refractive index was altered. Increasing […]

First ever observation of ‘time crystals’ interacting

EurekAlert   August 17, 2020 Protecting coherence is the main difficulty hindering the development of powerful quantum computers. An international team of researchers (Finland, UK, USA – Yale University, Russia) cooled superfluid helium-3 to within one ten thousandth of a degree from absolute zero and created two time crystals inside the superfluid. They observed an exchange of magnons between the time crystals leading to opposite-phase oscillations leading to opposite-phase oscillations in their populations while the defining periodic motion remains phase coherent throughout the experiment. The findings offer a basis to further investigate the fundamental properties of these phases, opening pathways for […]