Jakarta –
In 2016, a group of scientists discovered time crystal, a solid with an oscillating internal structure that repeats itself in time, not space. Now they’ve found another one, and it’s uniquely found in children’s toys.
As reported in two studies published in Physical Review Letters and Physical Review B, researchers have identified the typical behavior of crystals at discrete time or discrete time crystal (DTC) in monoammonium phosphate.
This discovery complicates the theory behind time crystals, as researchers generally believe that these objects require certain “internal disturbances” to act as time crystals.
The research team grew the crystals for several experiments, but wanted to know if they could observe the expected DTC signal in them. They used nuclear magnetic resonance and were surprised to find a sign (signature) as quickly as they do.
‘Our crystal measurements look very surprising,’ said lead researcher of the two new studies, Professor Sean Barrett, of Yale University, quoted by IFL Science.
“Our work shows that DTC signatures can, in principle, be found by observing persistent crystal growth,” he said.
Time crystal compared to jelly which can shake strangely. When we shake it, the jelly oscillates at a frequency that doesn’t match our movement. This is what happened with the time crystal. Whatever our initial impulse, the time crystal will assume a certain frequency.
How such a structure could arise is not yet clear. And studies have challenged many of the ideas put forward in recent years.
“We realized that simply finding a DTC signature doesn’t necessarily demonstrate that the system has a quantum memory of how it happened,” said Robert Blum, a Yale University graduate student and one of the study’s authors.
The team then pushed the investigation further. “This prompted us to experiment with time crystal echo, which uncovers hidden coherence, or quantum orders, within systems,” said lead author Jared Rovny, also a graduate student at Yale University.
Time crystal for what?
Many may wonder, what are the real benefits of this research? Time crystal potentially enhancing established technologies like atomic clocks, magnetometers, even the gyroscopes used in your smartphone to determine its orientation.
Time crystals may even play an important role in emerging quantum technologies, an area of research likely to intensify in the coming years.
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(rns/agt)
