Observation of a Dissipative Time Crystal

Creating ‘time crystals’ in open systems

31 May 2022

A so-called time crystal has been created in an open quantum system for the first time.

While conventional crystals are periodic in space, time crystals are periodic in time. They were first proposed theoretically a decade ago by Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek. They have recently been created in the lab in closed quantum systems — essentially closed boxes — but there has been speculation about whether they could be realized in open systems.

Now, a team led by researchers at the University of Hamburg in Germany has created a time crystal in an open quantum system.

They achieved this by putting rubidium atoms in a cavity created by two mirrors between which a laser beam bounced.

Since no system is truly closed, but leaks energy to its surrounding, a time crystal in an open system is more robust and less susceptible to ‘melting’ than one in a closed system.

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References

1. Physical Review Letters 127, 043602 (2021). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.043602