Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Condensed-matter physics

Marching to a different quantum beat

Nature volume 543, pages 185–186 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Periodic oscillations are common in nature but they generally decay or fall out of phase. Two experiments have found evidence for a Floquet time crystal, which is characterized by persistent in-phase oscillations. See Letters p.217 & p. 221

Crystalline solids are a classic example of a state of matter in which a symmetry is 'spontaneously broken'. The equations of physics are invariant under spatial translations because the interactions within a collection of atoms are the same regardless of where the atoms are located — any position is just as good as any other. However, below a certain temperature, the atoms spontaneously settle into a state in which there are preferred locations (the sites of a crystal lattice), thereby breaking translational symmetry. Analogous broken-symmetry states such as magnets, liquid crystals and superfluids abound in nature.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: A Floquet time crystal.

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Wilczek, F. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 160401 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bruno, P. Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 070402 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Nozières, P. Europhys. Lett. 103, 57008 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Watanabe, H. & Oshikawa, M. Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 251603 (2015).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. Sacha, K. Phys. Rev. A 91, 033617 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Khemani, V. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 250401 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Else, D. V., Bauer, B. & Nayak, C. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 090402 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Yao, N. Y., Potter, A. C., Potirniche, I.-D. & Vishwanath, A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 030401 (2017).

    Article  CAS  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. Zhang, J. et al. Nature 543, 217–220 (2017).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Choi, S. et al. Nature 543, 221–225 (2017).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. D'Alessio, L. & Rigol, M. Phys. Rev. X 4, 041048 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Abanin, D. et al. Preprint at http://arXiv.org/abs/1509.05386 (2015).

  13. Else, D. V., Bauer, B. & Nayak, C. Phys. Rev. X (in the press); preprint at http://arXiv.org/abs/1607.05277 (2016).

  14. Basko, D. M., Aleiner, I. L. & Altshuler, B. L. Ann. Phys. 321, 1126–1205 (2006).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Ponte, P., Chandran, A., Papić, Z. & Abanin, D. A. Ann. Phys. 353, 196–204 (2015).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. and in the Department of Physics, Chetan Nayak is at Microsoft Research, Station Q, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.,

    Chetan Nayak

Authors
  1. Chetan Nayak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chetan Nayak.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Quantum physics: Time crystals

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nayak, C. Marching to a different quantum beat. Nature 543, 185–186 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/543185a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/543185a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing