{"id":415686,"date":"2025-09-11T11:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/415686\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T11:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:44:13","slug":"everything-is-born-out-of-nothing-scientists-release-video-of-first-ever-visible-time-crystal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/415686\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cEverything is Born out of Nothing\u201d: Scientists Release Video of First-Ever Visible \u2018Time Crystal\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder have announced the creation of the world\u2019s first visible \u201ctime crystal<\/a>\u201d that can be seen with a microscope or even with the naked eye under certain conditions.<\/p>\n

Described by the UC Boulder team as a \u201ccurious phase of matter<\/a> in which the pieces, such as atoms or other particles, exist in constant motion,\u201d time crystals<\/a> that are visible could enable a wide range of currently unavailable applications<\/a>, such as advanced anti-counterfeiting technologies and \u201ctime barcodes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is born out of nothing,\u201d explained<\/a> Ivan Smalyukh, a UC Boulder professor of physics and fellow with the\u00a0Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute\u00a0(RASEI) and co-author of the study detailing the team\u2019s findings. \u201cAll you do is shine a light, and this whole world of time crystals emerges.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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When Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek first proposed the concept of a time crystal in 2012, scientists challenged readers to consider a physical crystal, such as a diamond, as a \u201cspace crystal,\u201d since its internal atomic structure was aligned in space. Conversely, a time crystal is aligned over time since it is in constant motion.<\/p>\n

While scientists have determined that building an actual time crystal that operates like a clock without a battery is likely impossible, they have created several versions<\/a> of time crystals that mostly function in the same way<\/a>. Still, those few successful examples were extremely small or fleeting, making them unusually difficult to directly visualize.<\/p>\n

Hoping to create the world\u2019s first visible time crystal, the UC Boulder team designed an experiment using liquid crystals like the ones used in smartphone displays. According to Smalyukh, squeezing the molecule within liquid crystals in the right way will cause them to bunch together and form \u201ckinks.\u201d Under certain conditions, these kinks can even behave like atoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have these twists, and you can\u2019t easily remove them,\u201d Smalyukh said. \u201cThey behave like particles and start interacting with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

To see if they could coax this motion into something resembling a time crystal, Smalyukh and Hanqing Zhao, the lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Department of Physics<\/a> at CU Boulder, placed a solution of liquid crystals in between two pieces of glass. To help the scientists see any possible motion, they coated the glass with dye molecules.<\/p>\n

According to the team\u2019s statement, the samples \u201cmostly sat still.\u201d However, when the researchers shone a certain wavelength of laser on the samples, the molecules in the dye suddenly changed their orientation. The resulting \u201csqueeze\u201d placed on the liquid crystal caused thousands of kinks to suddenly form. These formations of kinks triggered a series of interactions that the authors likened to a room filled with dancers in a Jane Austen novel.<\/p>\n

\u201cPairs break apart, spin around the room, come back together, and do it all over again,\u201d they explain.<\/p>\n

After some experimentation, the team found that the \u201cpatterns in time\u201d were also unusually hard to break, even if they raised or lowered the temperature. Although not perfect, the team concluded that they had essentially created a crystalline structure that is in constant motion, or a time crystal. Perhaps even more importantly, their experimental setup was simple and reproducible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of this time crystal,\u201d Smalyukh said. \u201cYou just create some conditions that aren\u2019t that special. You shine a light, and the whole thing happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the UC Boulder team\u2019s time crystal is that it is visible. For example, when the team placed the sample underneath a microscope, they noted that it created a repeating pattern that resembled \u201cpsychedelic tiger stripes.\u201d The pattern also continued to repeat for hours after a single laser shot without losing its visibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can be observed directly under a microscope and even, under special conditions, by the naked eye,\u201d Zhao said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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In the study\u2019s conclusion, the team said that this visibility could open a wide range of potential applications. One example proposed by the authors involved incorporating these types of liquid crystal structures into currency \u201cto make them harder to counterfeit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to know if that $100 bill is genuine, just shine a light on the \u2018time watermark\u2019 and watch the pattern that appears,\u201d they explain.<\/p>\n

Another potential use involved stacking a visible time crystal on top of another. A video released in conjunction with the study shows how this type of stack of visible time crystals can create a completely unique \u201ctime barcode.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smalyuhk said the team sees several possibilities. However, they don\u2019t want to put a limit on the potential applications until further research is completed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are opportunities to push this technology in all sorts of directions,\u201d the researcher concluded.<\/p>\n

The study \u201cSpace-time crystals from particle-like topological solitons\u201d was published in Nature Materials.<\/p>\n

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on <\/strong>X<\/strong><\/a>, learn about his books at <\/strong>plainfiction.com<\/strong><\/a>, or email him directly at <\/strong>christopher@thedebrief.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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