Hoping to create the world’s first visible time crystal, the UC Boulder team designed an experiment using liquid crystals like the ones used in smartphone displays. The resulting “squeeze” placed on the liquid crystal caused thousands of kinks to suddenly form. “That’s the beauty of this time crystal,” Smalyukh said. You shine a light, and the whole thing happens.”Perhaps the most striking aspect of the UC Boulder team’s time crystal is that it is visible. Another potential use involved stacking a visible time crystal on top of another.