Physicists have created a system of two connected time crystals, which are strange quantum systems that are stuck in an endless loop to which the normal laws of thermodynamics do not apply. By connecting two time crystals together, the physicists hope to use the technology to eventually build a new kind of quantum computer.
“It is a rare privilege to explore a completely novel phase of matter,” Samuli Autti, the lead scientist on the project from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, told Live Science in an email.
From crystal to time crystal
We encounter normal crystals all the time in everyday life, from the ice in a cocktail to the diamonds in jewelry. While crystals are pretty, to a physicist they represent a breakdown of the normal symmetries of nature.
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