It’s cool to be small. Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have miniaturized the optical components required to cool atoms down to a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, the first step in employing them on microchips to drive a new generation of super-accurate atomic clocks, enable navigation without GPS, and simulate quantum systems. …
Tag: atomic clocks
No leap second for December 31, 2020
World timekeepers have decreed there will be no leap second on December 31, 2020. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/leap-second-june-30-december-31-why-need-controversy…
New type of atomic clock 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…
Team’s bigger and better ‘tweezer clock’ is super stable
JILA physicists have boosted the signal power of their atomic “tweezer clock” and measured its performance in part for the first time, demonstrating high stability close to the best of the latest generation of atomic clocks. …
Physicists propose using atomic clocks of GPS network to detect exotic ultralight fields
A team of physicists from the U.S., Poland and Germany proposes to use quantum sensor networks such as atomic clocks of the GPS network or sensors from the Gnome collaboration (a network of shielded atomic magnetometers made up of 13 stations placed strategically on four continents—each of which is equipped with a magnetometer that has sub-picotesla sensitivity) to detect exotic ultralight…
Inside the incredibly slow race to reinvent time
The latest atomic clocks are so staggeringly precise that they are going to redefine the second. The only question now is when Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24732960-900-inside-the-incredibly-slow-race-to-reinvent-time/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Successfully measuring infinitesimal change in mass of individual atoms for the first time
A new door to the quantum world has been opened: When an atom absorbs or releases energy via the quantum leap of an electron, it becomes heavier or lighter. This can be explained by Einstein’s theory of relativity (E = mc2). However, the effect is minuscule for a single atom. Nevertheless, the team of Klaus Blaum and Sergey Eliseev at the…
Quantum autoencoders to denoise quantum measurements
Many research groups worldwide are currently trying to develop instruments to collect high-precision measurements, such as atomic clocks or gravimeters. Some of these researchers have tried to achieve this using entangled quantum states, which have a higher sensitivity to quantities than classical or non-entangled states. …
What are exoplanets?
Exoplanets are worlds orbiting distant stars. The history of our knowledge of exoplanets, the various types of exoplanets, how astronomers find them, and more, here. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-are-exoplanets…
High-precision distributed sensing using an entangled quantum network
Quantum-enhanced metrology has been an active area of research for several years now due to its many possible applications, ranging from atomic clocks to biological imaging. Past physics research established that having a non-classical probe, such as squeezed light or an entangled spin state, can have significant benefits compared to classical probes. This idea was explored further in several recent works,…