Physicists created time quasicrystals, an entirely new state of matter.
Unlike time crystals, which vibrate or “tick” at the same frequency, time quasicrystals can vibrate at multiple frequencies simultaneously.
In the future, time quasicrystals could possibly be used in instruments like sensors to measure several different frequencies at once.
It isn’t (yet) possible to conjure a crystal that actually manipulates time like the Time Stone wielded by Doctor Strange, but the next closest thing does exist—and it ticks with the fourth dimension that we know as time.
Time crystals almost sound like a figment of some sci-fi author’s imagination. They might not defy the laws of physics, but they do transcend three dimensions. While the atoms they’re made of take the same lattice form as those of ordinary static crystals, time crystals are dynamic. Particles rearrange themselves in different patterns and keep repeating those patterns, which causes the crystal to vibrate every so often. This can occur because time crystals have multiple stable quantum states (in which they won’t collapse).
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Now, a team of physicists from Washington University in St. Louis have created a new type of time crystal called a “quasicrystal”—and it’s an entirely new state of matter.
Conventional time crystals are predictable because the ways their atoms rearrange themselves keep repeating, so their vibrations are periodic. The time between each shift is exactly the same, and they vibrate at the same frequency. Time quasicrystals, on the other hand, “are ordered but apparently not periodic,” as the WashU team said in a study recently published in Physical Review X. That means there’s no repetition. Every change in the arrangement of atoms is different, making the crystal vibrate at different frequencies.
Think of this like in music: Time crystals are the same note played 10 times at the same time interval, or however long it takes for the crystal to degrade, since they don’t last very long. Time quasicrystals are 10 different notes played at different time intervals before the life of the crystal ends.
In the study, turning a diamond into a time quasicrystal required intense heat to excite the particles. By zapping a tiny diamond with a microwave laser, the scientists knocked out carbon atoms to allow electrons to move into the empty spaces and have quantum interactions that would form quasicrystals. The team used microwave pulses to start rhythms in the time quasicrystals so they would vibrate, going through hundreds of cycles before finally breaking down.
When scientists figure out how to make these crystals last more than 40 minutes (which is the most a standard time crystal has ever lasted), they could power highly sensitive instruments such as sensors, watches, electronics and quantum computers. Time crystals never lose energy and are therefore supposed to keep going infinitely. Getting them there will be another endeavor, but imagine a clock that never needs winding, or a smartphone that will never die. Because they vibrate at different frequencies, time quasicrystals could potentially measure multiple frequencies at once.
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“[Time quasicrystals bridge] the gap between spatial and temporal quasicrystals, offering a new paradigm for styling intricate symmetry-breaking phenomena in time,” the scientists said in the study.
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Elizabeth Rayne is a creature who writes. Her work has appeared in Ars Technica, SYFY WIRE, Space.com, Live Science, Den of Geek, Forbidden Futures and Collective Tales. She lurks right outside New York City with her parrot, Lestat. When not writing, she can be found drawing, playing the piano or shapeshifting.