Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed the most precise atomic clock on Earth -- so precise and stable that it would not gain or lose a second in 15 billion years.
The improved strontium atomic clock at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) is believed to be three times more precise compared to its record last year. Its ticking or stability has also improved by 50 percent, breaking its previous record as well.
Precision, or the measurement of how closely the clock approaches the true resonant frequency at which the strontium atoms oscillate between two electronic energy levels, is important to various industries, especially in advanced communications and global positioning technologies. Scientists are also studying the potential of the atomic clock in other applications now that it is precise enough to measure time and the force of gravity.
"Our performance means that we can measure the gravitational shift when you raise the clock just 2 centimeters on the Earth's surface," JILA/NIST Fellow Jun Ye said in a news release. "I think we are getting really close to being useful for relativistic geodesy."
The researchers were able to improve the atomic clock by eliminating the measurement errors caused by electromagnetic radiation or emitted by opaque objects in constant temperatures. They modified the design to block this radiation by putting shields on the atomic clock and adding platinum thermometers inside to maintain the temperature, according to Live Science.
"The clock operates at normal room temperature," Ye added. "This is actually one of the strongest points of our approach, in that we can operate the clock in a simple and normal configuration while keeping the blackbody radiation shift uncertainty at a minimum."
The research team plans to use the most precise atomic clock to map out the shape of Earth, test the theory of space and time and investigate dark matter.
Details of the atomic clock were published in the April 21 issue of Nature Communications.
