Until recently, the most accurate clock was considered a quantum clock, which was wrong by only 1 second in 3.7 billion years. They were surpassed by the atomic experimental clock developed in the USA, in the state of Colorado.
In 2014, a group of research scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology announced the invention of the strontium atomic clock. This watch is 1.5 times more accurate than the previous ones.
If such a clock could work non-stop for five billion years, then it would not run forward and would not lag behind for a single second.
In this most accurate watch in the world, several thousand strontium atoms are arranged in chains of about a hundred filters, which are an optical lattice formed by a powerful laser beam.
The frequency of vibrations of strontium atoms is 430 billion times per second. Thanks to this frequency, strontium clocks are much more accurate than the cesium clocks recognized by the world standards.
Strontium versus cesium clocks
According to international standards, cesium-based atomic clocks are considered the most accurate clocks. Such, for example, are the NIST-F1 watches in Colorado, USA.
Optical strontium clocks operate at higher frequencies than cesium clocks, which use microwaves. Due to its high accuracy and stability, strontium clocks may well replace cesium and be recognized throughout the world as the main standard for measuring world time.
How the efficiency of an atomic clock is measured
Two main parameters are used to measure the efficiency of an atomic clock: stability and accuracy. Stability indicates how the speed of the watch changes over time and is important for the long-term functioning of the movement. Accuracy shows how close the clock is to the resonant frequency at which the bound atoms vibrate between energy levels.
In terms of stability and accuracy, the experimental strontium clock breaks all records.
Why do you need an atomic clock
Time measurement technology has evolved from less to more accurate. At first it was enough to measure every hour, then it became possible to measure minutes and seconds.
Despite its high accuracy, atomic clocks do not seem so necessary to humans. But this is only at first glance.
Such accuracy of time measurement is necessary for some systems, where even one billionth of a second plays an important role. For example, atomic clocks are used to synchronize the operation of telecommunications systems, as well as satellite navigation systems.
Companies that supply electricity use nuclear technology to pinpoint where electrical wires are damaged. Space exploration uses atomic clock technology to make radio observations of distant space objects.
Frequency is a concept that applies to time. This is the magnitude of time, this is the pace at which the clock runs. This value is taken into account in radio and television broadcasts in order to avoid overlaps between stations and channels.
Observations of space with a probe inside the solar system are impossible without the participation of accurate atomic clocks at the Earth's stations.
Time plays an important role in the ordering of various kinds of human activity. Financial markets require more and more accurate calculations in determining the timing of transactions.
