Scientists connect “time crystal” to real device in quantum breakthrough

A shimmering crystal gets its colorful appearance from the precise arrangement of its atoms in space. In 2012, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek proposed that a similar kind of order could exist not in space, but in time. He suggested that certain quantum systems could organize themselves into repeating patterns that continue indefinitely without needing energy from the outside. He called these systems time crystals. They exist in their lowest energy state while still exh...