"Examples once existed in only complex, quantum matter, but now physicists have found a way to make a time crystal that can be seen, under certain conditions, with the naked eye. The feat, accomplished by physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder, and published in Nature Materials on 4 September, involved liquid crystals bar-shaped molecules with properties between those of a liquid and those of a solid."
"Simply by shining a light on the liquid crystals, the team created ripples of twisting molecules through them. The ripples kept moving for hours, undulating with a distinct beat, even when the researchers changed the conditions. The rhythm was also out of sync with any incoming force fulfilling the two defining criteria for a time crystal. The macroscopic scale of the time crystal at millimetres to centimetres across creates opportunities to provide deeper understanding of the phenomena, he says."
A time crystal exhibits continuous, repeating patterns over time analogous to spatial repetition in ordinary crystals. Physicists produced a visible time crystal using liquid crystals—bar-shaped molecules with properties between liquids and solids—by illuminating them to create ripples of twisting molecules. The ripples persisted for hours and undulated with a distinct beat that remained when experimental conditions changed. The observed rhythm was out of sync with the driving light, satisfying the defining criteria for a time crystal. The structures extended to millimetres and centimetres, offering opportunities to study macroscopic temporal order and potential anti-counterfeit applications.
Read at www.nature.com
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