Scientists create prototype of world’s first nuclear clock

A revolution in the way we mark time has been announced by an international research team led by scientists from JILA, the English acronym for the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, a research center specializing in quantum technologies at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA (NIST).

In a study recently published in the journal Nature, The team has presented a prototype of a nuclear clock, an unprecedented timekeeping device that uses signals coming directly from atomic nuclei rather than the changing energy states determined by electrons orbiting the nucleus to increase its accuracy.

The authors used a specially designed ultraviolet laser to capture it accurately, according to a press release. “frequency of energy jump in a thorium nucleus embedded in a solid crystal”They also used an optical frequency comb, which splits light into many frequencies, to count the number of ultraviolet wave cycles.

How to make an ultra-precise nuclear clock?

The key to achieving highly precise time measurement is to be able to record and measure pulses occurring at very short, nearly instantaneous time intervals with very high accuracy. In atomic clocks, a transition occurs when an electron absorbs or emits a certain amount of energy.This causes a jump between energy levels. This jump is the beat that an atomic clock uses to measure time.

In the implementation of atomic clocks used today, this is done by using cesium atoms and microwaves to keep time as follows: When the electrons in the alkali metal atom change energy level, this transition produces a microwave frequency that is recorded as a beat.

But in addition to these atomic clocks in use around the world, there are also optical versions that are hundreds of times more accurate. Instead of microwaves, they use optical wavelengths, in this case visible or ultraviolet light, as well as other types of atoms such as ytterbium or strontium.

Advantages and challenges of nuclear clock

The main advantage of the nuclear clock over its atomic equivalent is its greater degree of precision, as the transitions in energy levels occur in the nucleus of the atom, which is much more stable compared to the electrons at its edge. Atomic nuclei are also less affected by magnetic fields produced by external sources..

Normally, the high-energy light required in such a device would be X-rays, which have very short wavelengths but are technically more complex to handle. So in the current study, the authors chose to use thorium-229, which is known to have the smallest energy jump of any type of atom, according to the statement.

This isotope difference allows the use of ultraviolet light, which is easier to process but has enough energy to cause transitions in thorium-229. In addition to being more practical and safer to use in the laboratory than X-rays, Ultraviolet light makes experiments and future applications much cheaper.

How important is it that nuclear clocks are used around the world?

When activated, nuclear clocks will be set A new paradigm more accurate than current atomic clocksIn addition to providing the official international time, many technologies such as GPS, internet synchronization and financial transactions are generally available.

For those who use time in their daily lives, the research says, time measured by nuclear clocks will translate into more accurate navigation systems (with or without GPS), faster and more reliable internet connections, and more secure digital communications.

“Imagine The wristwatch that never misses a second even if you leave it running for billions of years“While we’re not there yet, this research gets us closer to that level of certainty,” compares co-author Jun Ye, a physicist at NIST and JILA, and concludes: “We’re not there yet, but this research gets us closer to that level of certainty.”

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