Luxury watch brands continue to compete in creating the most precise watches. Taking the form of tourbillons, perpetual calendars, ultra-thin movements, and groundbreaking materials, this competition fuels the constant evolution of haute horlogerie. However, what’s breaking records right now is the world’s most accurate clock, created by the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) along with the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA), a world-leading physics research institute.
The exceptional clock is an ion clock, a type of atomic clock that uses ions that are trapped and controlled by electromagnetic fields, to measure time with extreme precision. What makes this type of clock most accurate is the use of trapped aluminium ion that increases the accuracy of timekeeping by 41% than any other clock, and is 2.6 times more accurate than any other ion clock. By using aluminium ion, the clock is capable of dividing time into smaller increments, accurate down to less than a quintillionth of a second (10¹⁸ seconds). You can read about the team’s physical review letters here.
This type of clock is different from a cesium clock, which, though also an atomic clock, uses natural vibrations of cesium atoms to measure accurate time. However, the use of aluminium ion, as in the record-breaking innovation, makes the clock even more accurate, ticking at a high-frequency rate that’s more stable. The other advantage of using aluminium ion is that it is less sensitive to temperature changes and magnetic fields.
“It’s exciting to work on the most accurate clock ever,” stated Mason Marshall, NIST researcher and first author on the paper on nist.gov . “At NIST, we get to carry out these long-term plans in precision measurement that can push the field of physics and our understanding of the world around us.”
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a United States-based agency of Commerce, promoting American innovation and industrial competitiveness, while Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA), is is the leading research institute in the physical sciences in Boulder, Colorado.
The optical atomic clock took 20 years to make, with a “quantum logic clock” technique that puts together an electrically charged aluminium atom with a magnesium ion. With this level of accuracy, the clock is said to help advance quantum technology and fundamental physics.
Images: Courtesy nist.gov
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