Physicists invent flux capacitor, break time-reversal symmetry | Jared Cole

Schematic representation of the proposed circulator. Credit: FLEET

May 28, 2018 (Phys.org) -- In the popular movie franchise "Back to the Future," an eccentric scientist creates a time machine that runs on a flux capacitor.

Now a group of actual physicists from Australia and Switzerland have proposed a device that uses the quantum tunneling of magnetic flux around a capacitor, breaking time-reversal symmetry.

The research, published this week in Physical Review Letters, proposes a new generation of electronic circulators, which are devices that control the direction in which microwave signals move.

It represents a collaboration between two Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence: the Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS) and the Centre for Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET).

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