Using a scanning transmission X-ray microscope, the research team has recorded the oscillations of a time crystal made out of magnons at room temperature.

Time crystals, sometimes also referred to as space-time crystals, and only confirmed to actually exist a few years ago, are as fascinating as the name suggests.

In regular crystals, the constituent atoms are arranged in a fixed, three-dimensional grid structure - think of the atomic lattice of a diamond or quartz crystal.

So, where the structure of regular crystals repeats in space, in time crystals it repeats in space and time.

"Thus, we were able to show that the time crystal can interact with other quasiparticles.

"Now, if crystals can interact not only in space but also in time, we add another dimension of possible applications