Chris Monro has worked with an ion trap of a similar design (source: Hartmut Häffner)

In 2012, Nobel Laureate in Physics Frank Wilczek came up with an unusual idea. He suggested (and tried to prove) the possibility of the existence of "time crystals". Such structures, according to the physicist, receive energy for their movement from a fault in the symmetry of time. The rift, according to Vilcek, is some special form of perpetual motion.

Crystals themselves are very unusual structures. For example, crystals (those of them whose crystal lattice does not have the highest - cubic - symmetry) are characterized by the property of anisotropy. The anisotropy of crystals is the heterogeneity of their physical properties (elastic, mechanical, thermal, electrical, magnetic, optical, and others) in various directions.

Modern physicists are interested not only in the anisotropy of crystals, but also in their symmetry. As for symmetry, it manifests itself not only in their structure and properties in real three-dimensional space, but also in the description of the energy spectrum of crystal electrons, the analysis of X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction and electron diffraction in crystals using reciprocal space, etc. As for the "crystals of time", here scientists have assumed that the crystals are symmetrical in time.

Vilcek talked about this possible phenomenon back in 2010: “I was constantly thinking about the classification of crystals, and then I thought that you can also represent space-time from this point of view. That is, if we think of crystals in space, it would be logical to think of crystalline structures in time.” In crystals, atoms occupy a stable position in the lattice. And since stable objects remain unchanged over time, there is the possibility that atoms can form a constantly repeating lattice over time. They return to their original position after a discrete interval, breaking the temporal symmetry. If the crystal does not consume or produce energy, then such temporary crystals are stable, being in the "ground state". At the same time, cyclic changes occur in the structure of the crystal, which, from the point of view of physics, can be considered perpetual motion.

Many physicists had doubts about the validity of the hypothesis of the possibility of the existence of temporary crystals. But those scientists who accepted it began to look for ways to test the validity of Wilczek's assumption. And found.

Chris Monroe of the University of Maryland at College Park was the first to create a time crystal in his lab. His idea was to create a quantum system in the form of a group of ions arranged in a ring. When the ring cools, as Monroe (and other scientists before him) argued, the energy state of the entire system will drop to a minimum level. In other words, under such conditions, the system enters the “ground state” phase. If the temporal symmetry is broken, then the ring must change with time. In other words, rotate. Of course, it is impossible to extract the energy of this movement, since this contradicts the law of conservation of energy.

All this is theory. In practice, this idea is more difficult to implement. The intention to create a ring of ions and test the validity of the hypothesis of temporary crystals was announced several years ago by scientists from Berkeley. They planned to inject hundreds of calcium ions into a small chamber. This chamber must be surrounded by electrodes and the current turned on. The resulting electric field allows the ions to be driven into a chamber approximately 100 microns thick. Then it is necessary to "calibrate" the particles to equalize the field. The ions, repelling each other, would form a crystalline ring, distributing evenly along the outer edge of the chamber.

It is assumed that the ions in such a trap will be in an excited state, but with the help of a laser, their kinetic energy will be gradually reduced. According to the plan, the temperature of the system must be brought to 1 billionth of a degree above zero. After the system reaches the ground state, the scientists planned to turn on a static magnetic field. This field, if the time crystal hypothesis is correct, should have caused the ions to rotate. After the ions return to their starting point within a certain time period, scientists would record a violation of temporal symmetry.

Monroe followed a similar path, only to create the ring he used not potassium ions, but ytterbium ions. The difficulty in implementing the idea is that it is not possible to predict the existence of a particle at a certain time in a certain place. True, thanks to Anderson's localization, there is an exception to this rule that can be used. Anderson localization - a phenomenon that occurs when waves propagate in a medium with spatial inhomogeneities and consists in the fact that, due to multiple scattering on inhomogeneities and interference of scattered waves, the propagation of traveling waves becomes impossible; oscillations acquire the character of a standing wave, concentrated (localized) in a limited area of ​​space.

Relatively recently, physicists have studied groups of quantum particles interacting with each other in such a way that this interaction forces them to be localized. Monroe was able to use the results of this study to force the ytterbium ions to take up certain positions at certain times. As a result, a time crystal was created, and Monroe's team thus proved the possibility of time symmetry breaking. When studying the properties of a temporary crystal, it turned out that a significant change in the excitation frequency of the ions causes the crystal to "melt". According to scientists, the creation of a temporary crystal opens up great opportunities for quantum computing. For example, on the basis of temporary crystals, it is possible to create a reliable quantum memory.

True, the work of Monroe and colleagues still requires verification. Other teams of physicists plan to test the nature of the effect of time crystals by repeating the experiment. If this succeeds, then Frank Vilcek's hypothesis will become a theory, and quantum physics will receive an incentive for further development.

Physicists from Harvard University have created a new form of matter - the so-called "time crystal", which could explain the mysterious behavior of quantum systems.
Crystals, including salts, sugars, or diamonds, are essentially just a periodic arrangement of atoms in a three-dimensional lattice. On the other hand, time crystals are believed to add a fourth dimension to this definition. It is assumed that, under certain conditions, some materials can manifest themselves in their structure and in time.

Led by physics professors Mikhail Lukin and Eugene Demler, a team of scientists built a quantum system using a small diamond with millions of atomic-scale impurities, known as a "nitrogen-substituted vacancy" (NV center). They used microwave pulses to throw the system out of balance, causing the center to spin and flip them over at regular intervals.

“Currently, ongoing work is underway to understand the physics of non-equilibrium quantum systems. This is an area that is of interest to many quantum technologies, since it is basically a quantum system that is far from equilibrium. In fact, there is a lot to explore here, and we are still only at the very beginning,” said Mikhail Lukin.

That such systems could be created initially seemed unlikely. In fact, some researchers have gone very far on this issue. They proved that it is impossible to create a time crystal in a quantum system in equilibrium. Physicists explain that most of the objects around us are in equilibrium. If you have something hot and cold, and you combine them, the temperature will even out. But not all systems work this way. One of the most common examples of a material out of balance is diamond. It is a crystallized form of carbon that forms at high temperature and pressure. Diamond is unusual in that it is meta-stable, that is, having taken its shape, it remains unchanged even after the factors of heat and pressure are removed from it.

Only recently have scientists begun to realize that non-equilibrium systems can exhibit the characteristics of a time crystal. One of these characteristics is that the response of the crystal remains stable over time in relation to various stimuli. The time crystal effect has a lot to do with the idea that the system is energized but does not absorb energy.

To create such a system, Lukin and his colleagues started with a small diamond that has many NV centers embedded in it. Using microwave pulses, the scientists periodically changed their rotational orientation to see if the material would continue to react like a time crystal.

Such systems could be critical in the development of useful quantum computers and quantum sensors. They demonstrate the fact that the two critical components of long quantum memory and high density of quantum bits are not mutually exclusive. The physicists say the research will enable a new generation of quantum sensors, and possibly have applications for things like atomic clocks.

A team of physicists from Yale University has proven that even a child can synthesize the mysterious “time crystals” discovered by a Nobel laureate!

In 2012, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek proposed the existence of a new type of crystal. Although most crystals have a structure that repeats itself in two or three dimensions, Wilczek introduced the concept of a crystal whose structure is repeated four times: three of them correspond to the dimensions of space, and the fourth to the dimension of time. He called this hypothetical structure a “time crystal,” and it wasn’t until last year that scientists figured out how to synthesize them in the lab.

Time Crystals

Recently published studies have shown that the notorious time crystals exist not only as a product of laboratory activities of scientists. It turned out that such structures can also form in the natural environment, while the process itself is much simpler than experts imagined. This is a great success for humanity: Wilczek crystals can be used for practical purposes, for example, to create ultra-precise atomic clocks, new generation gyroscopes and other devices.

Time crystals exhibit very strange activity under the influence of electromagnetic waves. In such a crystal, all molecules rotate in a certain direction, and with each new EM pulse it changes. But even if the impulses are random, the direction of rotation still changes at regular intervals, so that time crystals can be used as a measure of time intervals, that is, as a universal clock.

"Even a child can do it"

Last year, researchers figured out how to create these crystals in the lab using a rather complex technique that involves pointing lasers at a collection of ytterbium atoms. However, new work by physicists at Yale University has proven that synthesizing time crystals is so easy that a child could literally do it. They found that temporary crystals formed inside ordinary monoammonium phosphate crystals, which are often used in "young chemist" kits and other educational toys, thanks to which you can grow a beautiful crystal at home. Theoretically, Wilczek crystals can be hidden in each such structure.

Sean Barrett, the author of the study, notes that this is only to the advantage of physicists, since the cheaper and simpler the process, the easier it is to study it. Now they have to understand in detail the mechanism of the synthesis of time crystals and determine exactly how they can be used for the benefit of technological progress.

These are acquired from disenchanting epic gear with an iLvl of 650 and above.
Currently it is unknown whether these can also be gained from combining 5 Azurite Shards , it is however quite likely.

Comment from Eido

one of three main types of Enchanting reagents introduced in Warlords of Draenor:
Acquired primarily through the Enchanting spell: Disenchant .

1. Time Crystal - YOU ARE ON THIS PAGE

• Time Crystal appears to be the WOD version of other "crystals" in past expansions and is the hardest of the three materials to obtain.
  It is most-commonly received when disenchanted epic quality, ilvl 640 and up gear and weapons from WOD (perhaps except for items from a random upgrade1 ).
  NOTE: Even with the , non-enchanters cannot disenchant Epic quality items. You will receive the red, error text "Cannot Disenchant".
  It appears you CAN disenchant epic quality items, even if you are not an enchanter.
• Non-Enchanters and Enchanters alike can "craft" this item through Work Orders, with the Enchanting Pavilion Lv 1 .
  1. Work Orders yield a number of Shattered Time Crystal, which can later be combined to form a full Time Crystal.
     Having a follower(Requires Enchanting Pavilion Level 2) at this building can result in higher Work Order yields.
     Percent chance of receiving more increases with follower level. ()
• Additionally, Enchanters can create these crystals in two ways:
  1. Enchanting lvl 600: using Glowing Shard with the Fractured Temporal Crystal recipe (the Wowhead tooltip for this is a bit strange) to create Shattered Temporal Crystal (amount awarded increases by Enchanting lvl), which can later be combined to form a full Temporal Crystal . There is no cool down for this option.
  2. Enchanting lvl 700: (replaces the previous option) using Glowing Shard with the Time Crystal recipe to create a full Time Crystal ONCE A DAY.

• The previous, data-mined item, , is no longer available to players.
• According to the loot table, it appears Rare and Uncommon quality items from WoD can now also yield a Time Crystal
• 1 Credit to Exeila for this information.
• Edit 1/21/15: Adjusted information to reflect the loot table, it seems Rare-quality items no longer yield a Time Crystal and the ilvl required has been increased.
• Edit 7/5/15: It appears you CAN disenchant epic quality items, even if you are not an enchanter.

Comment from jiajia

Wondering disenchanting what ilvl gear I get this instead of Sha crystal, it seems like disenchanting 608 item gives you these and those under 590s gives you Sha. 598 give sha crystals too.

Comment from Hypersonguy

These are generated by disenchanting epic items of 600 ilvl or higher. The easiest way to tell if you will get a temporal crystal or a sha crystal is whether the items says Disenchantable (575) or just plain disenchantable. Anything featuring the (575) will yield a sha crystal.

Comment from Kelthuza

quick question..

how do you get the recipe with 3 charges? and is it the same way for other professions?

Comment from Mister Crow

Anyone have any suggestions on the best way to turn these into a vendorable item?

I"m not really interested in undercutting goblins on the AH, but I also want to find a way to put these to use that translates directly into gold.

In 2012, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek proposed the existence of a new type of crystal. Although most crystals have a structure that repeats itself in two or three dimensions, Wilczek introduced the concept of a crystal whose structure is repeated four times: three of them correspond to the dimensions of space, and the fourth to the dimension of time. He called this hypothetical structure a “time crystal,” and it wasn’t until last year that scientists figured out how to synthesize them in the lab.

Time Crystals

Recently published studies have shown that the notorious time crystals exist not only as a product of laboratory activities of scientists. It turned out that such structures can also form in the natural environment, while the process itself is much simpler than experts imagined. This is a great success for humanity: Wilczek crystals can be used for practical purposes, for example, to create ultra-precise atomic clocks, new generation gyroscopes and other devices.

Time crystals exhibit very strange activity under the influence of electromagnetic waves. In such a crystal, all molecules rotate in a certain direction, and with each new EM pulse it changes. But even if the impulses are random, the direction of rotation still changes at regular intervals, so that time crystals can be used as a measure of time intervals, that is, as a universal clock.

"Even a child can do it"

Last year, researchers figured out how to create these crystals in the lab using a rather complicated technique that involves pointing lasers at a set of ytterbium atoms. However, new work by physicists at Yale University has proven that synthesizing time crystals is so easy that a child could literally do it. They found that temporary crystals formed inside ordinary monoammonium phosphate crystals, which are often used in "young chemist" kits and other educational toys, thanks to which you can grow a beautiful crystal at home. Theoretically, Wilczek crystals can be hidden in each such structure. Sean Barrett, the author of the study, notes that this is only to the advantage of physicists, since the cheaper and simpler the process, the easier it is to study it. Now they have to understand in detail the mechanism of the synthesis of time crystals and determine exactly how they can be used for the benefit of technological progress.