New US Military Survey on DARPA Involves Time Crystals

The crystals of time, devised by Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek in 2009 and proven last year, are atom systems that maintain the same periodic behavior in the presence of electromagnetic pulses. And the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is interested, among other things, in using them as a kind of information storage unit and possible use related to quantum computing.

Called Driven and Nonequilibrium Quantum Systems (DRINQS), the program can work with “atomic clock applications, where you have a set of atoms vibrating to provide time information, ” he said. Ale Lukaszew, the head of the portfolio at DARPA, in an interview with Gizmodo.

“There may be applications related to measuring things with exquisite sensitivity in the time and magnetic field domains. And none of them are open for discussion, ”he said in a tone of confidential military technology.

It is well known that DRINQS will relate the time crystals to quantum mechanics and the potential places where conducting a system, with the addition of a regular electromagnetic pulsating force, makes atoms assume more stable behaviors than would have no pulse. This means that they would be able to retain properties for a longer time without being influenced by a neighboring atom.

Research can create “super accurate watches”

According to the DARPA release, "Teams will be tasked with developing new protocols to stabilize consistency in a targeted system and demonstrate proof of principle concepts that achieve at least 10 times, and possibly 100 times, improvement over to the standard limits of quantum coherence ".

One possibility is the creation of “super accurate clocks” that could be very useful in places where gravity acts most intensely, where time slows down. The crystals of time would allow us to measure different gravitational effects with incredible accuracy. And that would be able, for example, to define the position of an object without the need for a GPS.

Coupled with quantum computation, time crystals could also help create better magnetic resonance images and magnetic field issues such as identifying the origin of rocks.

Although a military program, DARPA says funding for research at other institutions can help in many areas of science. The subject is only secret even when it involves weaponry. "What will be confidential will be the significant results in which DARPA can see potential transition potential to something of defense interest."