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A new type of atomic clock created 14 billion years ago, roughly equivalent to the current age of the universe, could work with precise precision while maintaining a delay of more than a tenth of a second, according to the scientific journal Nature, when American scientists used a strange phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Design new watches.
As the researchers explain, this quantum entanglement helps reduce the uncertainty involved in measuring atomic oscillations that atomic clocks use to keep time, and the watch can be used to detect the supposedly elusive ‘dark matter’. represent more than three quarters of the universe. In addition to studying the effect of gravity on time.
For his part, electrical engineer researcher Edwin Pedroso Penafiel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said: “Improved optical atomic clocks will have the ability to achieve better precision in one second than today’s latest optical clocks.. “
Similar to how ancient pendulum clocks work to save time, atomic clocks use lasers to measure the natural oscillations of atomic clouds, which are the most stable periodic events scientists can expect today. hui..
Ideally, the motion of a single atom could be used, but when it comes to atomic measurements, the particular rules of quantum mechanics play a major role, especially since the measurements are subject to the probability that the mean obtains reliable data..
“When you increase the number of atoms, the average given by all of those atoms is assigned to something that gives the correct value,” says researcher and physicist Simon Columbo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.“.
Contemporary atomic clocks measure thousands of supercooled atoms, which are captured in an optical “trap” by a laser and tested by a different laser at a frequency similar to the oscillations of the atoms being measured..
However, this approach is subject to a certain degree of quantitative uncertainty, and from this point of view the research team concluded that the uncertainty can be eliminated by moving to quantum entanglement, in terms of groups of atoms. ..
This means that the individual oscillations of complex atoms contract around a common frequency – increasing the accuracy of the measurements taken by the watch, the researchers explained..
In their new design, Dr Pedro Penville and his colleagues combined around 350 atoms of the rare earth element ytterbium, which oscillates 100,000 times per second more than cesium, the element used in conventional atomic clocks..
This fact means that – if closely watched – the new clock can detect even smaller internal time fragments, and like in a standard atomic clock, the team captured atoms in a luminous space surrounded by two mirrors – but then fired the laser through space to jump between The two mirrors. They repeatedly interacted and crossed with atoms.
As researcher and physicist Chi Shuo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology explains, “Light seems to be a communication link between atoms.“.
And the first atom that sees that light changes the light slightly, and that light also changes the second atom and the third atom, and through many turns the atoms know each other and start behaving the same way.“.
The team then used an additional laser beam to measure the average frequency of atoms – similar to the method used in current atomic clocks, and the research team concluded that entanglement allowed the clock to reach four times the accuracy required for current clocks..
MIT researcher and physicist Professor Vladan Vulich said: The design of the new watch can be used to better address the mysteries of the universe..
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