Lancaster University researchers experimentally studied two adjacent quantum time crystals realized by two magnon (magnetic particles) condensates in superfluid 3He-B. They saw an exchange of magnons between the time crystals leading to opposite-phase oscillations in their populations—a signature of the AC Josephson effect—while the defining periodic motion remains phase-coherent throughout the experiment.

The results demonstrate that time crystals obey the general dynamics of quantum mechanics and offer a basis to further investigate the fundamental properties of these phases and they could be for real-life applications in quantum computing and other applications.

Time crystals maintain coherence and are resistant to environmental noise. This is one essential for building quantum devices such as qubits in a quantum computer. There could be a way to precisely manipulate the quantum state. This would be needed to make useful quantum computers using time crystals.