MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA – In a groundbreaking achievement that blurs the line between science fiction and reality, a team of physicists in the United States has successfully created a "time crystal" using a quantum computer. This bizarre and long-theorized new phase of matter, which fundamentally challenges the established laws of physics, was realized using Google's state-of-the-art Sycamore quantum processor. The discovery opens a new frontier in quantum mechanics and could pave the way for revolutionary technologies.
Unlike any crystal found in nature—such as a diamond or a snowflake, which have atomic structures that repeat in space—a time crystal possesses a structure that repeats in time. In essence, its constituent particles oscillate in a regular, periodic pattern forever without any external energy input and without losing any energy to heat. It is a system in perpetual, self-sustaining motion, seemingly defying the second law of thermodynamics, which dictates that all systems should tend towards disorder and thermal equilibrium.
This perpetual oscillation is what makes the time crystal so extraordinary. It is a new, non-equilibrium phase of matter that never settles down. While a diamond sitting on a table is in a stable, low-energy ground state, a time crystal never reaches such a resting point. It is perpetually in motion, its internal clock ticking indefinitely.
The concept was first proposed in 2012 by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek, but creating one has been a monumental challenge for scientists worldwide. The primary obstacle was creating a system isolated enough from its environment to prevent it from eventually succumbing to entropy and settling into a static, uniform state.
The breakthrough came from a collaboration between physicists at Stanford, Princeton, and other institutions, who leveraged the unique capabilities of Google's quantum computer. They used a chip containing 20 qubits—the fundamental building blocks of quantum information—to serve as the basis for their time crystal. By precisely targeting these qubits with laser pulses in a specific sequence based on Fibonacci numbers, the researchers were able to "nudge" the system into a stable, oscillating state that broke "time-translation symmetry." This means that even though the forces acting on it were periodic, the system responded at a different, subharmonic period—a key signature of a time crystal.
"The result is stunning," said one of the lead researchers in the published study. "We've made a completely new phase of matter that was predicted but never realized before. It's a new way of thinking about what matter can be and what it can do."
The implications of this discovery are profound. Because of their incredible stability and resistance to decoherence (the process where quantum states are destroyed by external noise), time crystals could be the perfect building blocks for next-generation technologies:
Ultra-Stable Quantum Memory: Quantum computers are notoriously fragile. A time crystal could provide a robust way to store quantum information for extended periods, overcoming one of the biggest hurdles in building a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Precision Measurement: The perfectly regular "ticking" of a time crystal could be harnessed to create atomic clocks of unprecedented accuracy, useful in everything from GPS navigation to fundamental physics experiments.
While practical applications are still on the horizon, the creation of a time crystal is a landmark scientific moment. It confirms that the universe can host forms of matter far stranger than we ever imagined and provides physicists with a tangible platform to explore the exotic, non-equilibrium world of quantum mechanics. It is a glimpse into physics beyond our current understanding—a system that never settles, never slows, and could rewrite what we believe is possible for matter itself.
