Highly Accurate Atomic Clock Only Loses 1 Second Each 300 Billion Years

A group of scientists has revealed the development of one of the most high-performing atomic clocks ever created.

Because the equipment measures time with such precision, it is only estimated that it will miss 1 second each 300 billion years, enabling for more precise measurements of gravity waves, dark matter, and other significant phenomena. A paper based on the research conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison was reported in the journal Nature.

The most common definition of an atomic clock is a clock that tracks the reverberations of atom frequencies, which are typically the frequencies of cesium or rubidium atoms. This procedure enables such clocks to count time with a high level of efficiency. Among the many examples of space-based experiments is NASA’s Deep Space Atomic Clock, which was sent into orbit and tested the system for two years.

Atomic clocks keep track of the energy values of electrons in order to function. Similarly, the institution said that when an electron shifts energy levels, it absorbs or emits light at a wavelength that is the same in all atoms of a certain element. When optical atomic clocks preserve time, they do so by utilizing a laser that has been set to perfectly match this frequency. To maintain precise time, they need some of the most advanced lasers available.

The new research developed a multiplexed clock that split strontium atoms into a line in a single vacuum chamber, which was then tested in a laboratory. In spite of the fact that the researchers employed a “pretty bad laser,” as Kolkowitz put it, they were able to achieve near-world record levels of accuracy in their measurements.

If they just used one clock to shine the laser on the same amount of atoms, the laser would only excite electrons in the very same number of atoms for one-tenth of a second. However, when two clocks are running simultaneously time, the atoms remain stimulated for 26 seconds.