Time crystals, which were considered physically impossible until 2016, were officially discovered and confirmed in existence that year. Although time crystals are basically similar to regular crystals, they have one big difference. While in normal crystals the atoms have a fixed three-dimensional structure and all their motion is dependent on external force, the atoms of time crystals behave very differently.
The atoms of time crystals move through time in ways that cannot be explained by external force alone. These oscillations, called ‘ticking’, are regular and locked to a certain frequency, and they perform this movement in the lowest state of energy. While studies on time crystals, one of the greatest mysteries of science, continue, an important development has been announced in the scientific world today.
The building block of quantum computers has been created
Scientists have taken a big step forward for quantum computing devices, which look like a jump from science fiction movies using time crystals. Scientists have succeeded in creating a binary system consisting of two separate time crystals in an experiment that pushes the laws of physics to the extreme. To create the system, first two time crystals were formed and then these time crystals were brought into contact with each other.
As the time crystals came into contact with each other, magnon exchange took place between them. Semiparticles, called magnons, are produced when Helium-3, a stable isotope of helium with two protons but only one neutron, is cooled to one ten-thousandth degree zero. With the magnon exchange, the time crystals affected each other’s oscillation, resulting in a single system that offered the option to operate in two separate states.
This resulting bistable system was the basic building block of a quantum computer. It is envisaged that time crystals could be used to create quantum devices that operate at room temperature in the future. This means that the work currently being done with multi-million dollar systems and in highly specialized environments can be done more widely and at lower cost.
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