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Realization of a continuous time crystal in a photonic metamaterial

Time crystals are a new state of matter. Conventional crystal properties are periodic in space, while the properties of a time crystal are periodic in time. A continuous quantum time crystal has recently been realized, and now, using optically driven many-body interactions in a nano-mechanical photonic metamaterial, a classical continuous time crystal has been created.

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Fig. 1: Synchronization as a first-order phase transition in a metamaterial analogue of a continuous time crystal.

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This is a summary of: Liu, T. et al. Photonic metamaterial analogue of a continuous time crystal. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02023-5 (2023).

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Realization of a continuous time crystal in a photonic metamaterial. Nat. Phys. 19, 939–940 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02043-1

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