The most accurate Clock in the World

A pair of experimental atomic clock based Ytterbium atom at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, a new stability record. It works like a 21st century pendulum or metronome that can swing back and forth in the equivalent period of the age of the universe.

NIST's ultra-stable ytterbium lattice atomic clock. (Picture from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/)

NIST scientists report that was published in Science Express on August 22, 2013 showed that the rate Ytterbium atomic clock more stable than anoter atomic clocks. Stability can be considered as how precise duration of each beat matched with any other rate. Ytterbium clock ticking remained stable until nearly two part 1 quintillion (1 followed by 18 zeros), or 10 times better than the best record another atomic clock.

This new breakthrough has potentially significant impact for not only on the timeliness, but also the quantity of sensors that have little effect on the ticking of atomic clocks rate, including gravity, magnetic field, and temperature. This is a major step in the next-generation atomic clocks evolution are being developed around the world, including at NIST and JILA, a joint research institute operated by NIST and University of Colorado Boulder.

"The stability of the Ytterbium clock lattice opened the door for many interesting practical applications of measuring the time that has high performance," said Andrew Ludlow, a NIST physicist that involved in the study.

In every NIST's Ytterbium clock relies on 10 thousand rare atoms which are cooled to 10 microKelvin (10 millionths of a degree above absolute zero) and confined in an optical lattice - a series of wells with pancake shaped that made from the laser light. Another laser beam, which fires the light as much as 518 trillion and triggering a transition between two energy levels in atoms. The large number of atoms is the key of the clock's high stability.

The atomic clocks ticking must be averaged over the period to give the best results. From the main benefits of the Ytterbium clock high-stability is achieving results in a short time. For example, the current U.S. time standard, the NIST-F1 cesium fountain clock have averaged about 400 thousand seconds (five days) to achieve the best performance. The newest Ytterbium clock achieve the same results in an average time of 1 second. This success was published in the Science journal. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SCIENCEDAILY | NIST | TJANDRA DEWI | KORAN TEMPO 4325]

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