31 Dec 2020
10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1. Happy New Year!
While the UK looks to Big Ben and the US have their Times Square pendulum, our New Year celebrations rely on pin point accurate timing. Now, a new kind of atomic clock, designed by MIT researchers, will enable even a half second off since the beginning of the Universe to seem like an unnecessary eternity. Entanglement-enhanced optical atomic clocks are no longer bound by the Standard Quantum Limit and will help enable physicists to decipher signals in the universe such as dark matter and gravitational waves.
Atomic clocks are the most precise timekeepers in the world. These exquisite instruments use lasers to measure the vibrations of atoms, which oscillate at a constant frequency, like many microscopic pendulums swinging in sync. The best atomic clocks in the world keep time with such precision that, if they had been running since the beginning of the universe, they would only be off by about half a second tod
But hoping to improve on that staggering feat, scientists at MIT have now pushed the envelope and devised plans for an even more reliable timepiece with notions for a mind-boggling new quantum-entangled atomic clock. Details of their research were recently published in the online journal Nature, where MIT s team provided the blueprints for this remarkable device.
Credit: MIT
You d think that recording the vibrations of a single atom should be the ultimate method by which to document time passing. However, a pesky principle involving random quantum fluctuations can disturb the near-perfect mechanism in an effect called the Standard Quantum Limit.
New type of atomic clock keeps time even more precisely
December 19, 2020MIT
The design, which uses entangled atoms, could help scientists detect dark matter and study gravity’s effect on time.
Atomic clocks are the most precise timekeepers in the world. These exquisite instruments use lasers to measure the vibrations of atoms, which oscillate at a constant frequency, like many microscopic pendulums swinging in sync. The best atomic clocks in the world keep time with such precision that, if they had been running since the beginning of the universe, they would only be off by about half a second today.
A new kind of atomic clock possibly reveal new physics
The design, which uses entangled atoms, could help scientists detect dark matter and study gravity’s effect on time.
Atoms are trapped in an optical cavity composed of two mirrors. When a “squeezing” laser is set through the cavity, the atoms are entangled, and their frequency is measured with a second laser, as a platform for more precise atomic clocks.
Credits: MIT scientists
MIT scientists have designed a new kind of atomic clock that could answer some mind-boggling questions, such as what effect gravity might have on the passage of time and whether time itself changes as the universe ages.
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Atomic clocks are the most precise timekeepers in the world. These exquisite instruments use lasers to measure the vibrations of atoms, which oscillate at a constant frequency, like many microscopic pendulums swinging in sync. The best atomic clocks in the world keep time with such precision that, if they had been running since the beginning of the universe, they would only be off by about half a second today.
Still, they could be even more precise. If atomic clocks could more accurately measure atomic vibrations, they would be sensitive enough to detect phenomena such as dark matter and gravitational waves. With better atomic clocks, scientists could also start to answer some mind-bending questions, such as what effect gravity might have on the passage of time and whether time itself changes as the universe ages.