Researchers used carbon-13 nuclear spins in a diamond with nitrogen-vacancy defects to create a new rondeau time crystal, which pairs persistent temporal order with short-time disorder. The team combined laser-driven spin polarization with microwave and spin-locking pulses and even encoded data into timing pulses as a demonstration. Reported in Nature Physics, the approach is expected to be transferable to other quantum-simulator platforms and opens new directions for studying temporal order in quantum systems.
Scientists Create a New 'Rondeau' Time Crystal Inside Diamond — Temporal Order With Short-Time Disorder
Scientists Created a New Phase of MatterMina De La O - Getty Images
Researchers have used a diamond as a quantum simulator to create a novel phase of matter called a rondeau time crystal, a state that combines long-range temporal order with rapid, short-time disorder. The work, reported in Nature Physics and covered by Phys.org, demonstrates a new way to engineer and probe exotic time-dependent quantum behavior.
Time crystals are unusual quantum phases that repeat in time rather than space. First proposed theoretically in 2012, time crystals have attracted attention for potential applications in robust quantum memory and error-resistant quantum devices, although practical uses remain speculative. Time crystals can be discrete (driven by an external periodic force) or continuous (self-sustained), and researchers keep discovering new variants that expand the concept.
What the team made
The new experiment produced a rondeau time crystal: a temporally repeating pattern punctuated by variations — a structure inspired by the musical rondo (or rondeau), which pairs a recurring theme with inserted variations. The rondeau phase shows sustained, long-range oscillations in time while exhibiting disorder or micromotion at short timescales.
“The motivation for this research stems from how order and variation coexist across art and nature,”— Leo Moon, Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley and co-author of the study.
How the experiment worked
The team used carbon-13 nuclear spins in a diamond that contained nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers — defects formed by a nitrogen atom next to a vacant lattice site. Illuminated NV centers can be spin polarized with lasers; the researchers boosted and controlled that polarization using microwave pulses. By combining protective "spin-locking" pulses with carefully timed polarization-flipping pulses, they engineered a controlled temporal pattern that realized the rondeau time crystal. They also demonstrated that information can be encoded into the timing pulses (for example, using ASCII encoding) as a proof of concept for storing timing-based information.
Why it matters
Although the demonstration does not yet enable a specific technology, the authors argue the approach is broadly transferable: the control protocol should be applicable to many other quantum-simulator platforms beyond diamond. The experiment opens a new avenue to study temporal order in quantum matter and shows that long-lived temporal coherence can coexist with short-time micromotion disorder — a nuance that may be important for future quantum information applications.
Limitations and outlook
Practical applications remain speculative. The experiment establishes a proof of principle and a new conceptual category of time crystal, but further work is needed to test stability, scalability, and implementation in other materials or devices. The authors suggest their method can be adapted to a wide range of quantum platforms, inviting follow-up experiments.
Publication and coverage
The research appears in Nature Physics and has been summarized by Phys.org. Co-author Leo Moon (UC Berkeley) provided insights on the connection between patterns in art and the mixed-order properties of the new phase.
