A dissipative time crystal is a phase of matter characterized by periodic oscillations over time, while a system is dissipating energy. In contrast with conventional time crystals, which can also occur in closed systems with no energy loss, dissipative time crystals are observed in open systems with energy freely flowing in and out of them.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: a. Photo of the team's experimental setup, with the luminated vapor cell at room temperature without cooling or heating. b. Schematic of the experimental setup, where a probe beam overlaps with a counterpropagating coupling beam in a room-temperature 85Rb-vapor cell and establish EIT. c. A typical oscillating time crystal signal. Credit: Dr. Xiaoling Wu Researchers at Tsinghua University recently observed a dissipative time crystal in a strongly interacting Rydberg gas at room temperature. Their paper, published in Nature Physics, opens new possibilities for the study of this fascinating state of matter. "The results we achieved were totally unplanned," Dr. Li You, supervising researcher for the study, told Phys.org. "During the corona pandemic three years ago, the lead author Dr. Xiaoling Wu, then a Ph.D. student, was determined to continue working in the lab when only a few students were allowed in. At that time, our primary objective was to experiment with Rydberg excitation in an ultra-cold atomic gas." While pursuing his Ph.D. at Tsinghua University, Dr. Xiaoling experimentally observed noise-like oscillations in the transmission of a probe light passing through the thermal vapor cell used to lock lasers to atomic transitions. At the time, neither he nor his colleagues understood what this surprising phenomenon was, as it had not yet been predicted or theoretically described. "Xiaoling Wu, together with Zhuqing Wang, and Dr. Fan Yang (the three co-first authors of our paper), joined by Dr. Xiangliang Li from Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Science, began their exciting explorations of the physics associated with this newly found phenomenon both from the experimental and theoretical sides, which eventually led to the reported work," You said. "Xiaoling's instinct and…