One of the largest time crystals ever made to unlock new quantum paths

Researchers from IBM, Basque Quantum, and NIST have created one of the largest and most complex time crystals to date—a 144-qubit, two-dimensional structure—using IBM’s Quantum Heron chip. Time crystals are exotic quantum materials that exhibit repeating patterns in time rather than space and can only exist out of thermal equilibrium. Previously, time crystals were limited to small, one-dimensional chains due to the complexity of modeling larger systems. This breakthrough demonstrates the ability to build—not just simulate—large, robust time crystals, revealing new quantum dynamics and opening avenues for studying quantum materials, spin interactions, and nanoscale technologies. The team overcame significant challenges in verifying quantum results by employing a hybrid quantum-classical approach. They used tensor network methods and belief propagation on classical computers to approximate and refine the quantum states generated by the quantum hardware. This quantum-centric supercomputing strategy allowed for advanced error mitigation, significantly reducing uncertainty and improving the accuracy of the quantum computations. The research highlights the growing potential of integrating quantum