In a world crowded with modern technology, you may not think that the exact timing is important, but behind the “GPS” applications that help us in travel, space navigation, and even precise physical experiences including measuring Earth’s rotation, there are so -called atomic watches, which are the actual ruler of time in the modern era.
Recently, scientists from the National Institute of American Standards and Technology (Nest) achieved a tremendous achievement in the most accurate industry of an hour in the world, and the accuracy of this watch extends to 19 ten status, i.e. a tenth mark and 19 zero, then No. 1, and this number is a huge leap, exceeding 41% over the previous record, according to a study published by the team in the journal “Vizical Review”.
Aluminum besieged
To reach that extreme accuracy, scientists have resorted to employing an aluminum ion electronically to generate a stable “timing system” with great accuracy, and the ion is an atom lost or gained electron and became an electrical charged.
But why aluminum? Because the vibrations (vibrations) of this ion are very high, reaching the terathz, and this gives the watch the ability to divide the second into trillions of parts with incredible accuracy.
Any hour, whether mechanical or digital, depends on something that vibrates or is repeated very regularly to measure the passage of time. For example, the mechanical clock is used as a pendant or pulsating that swings, and the quartz clock (digital) depends on vibration of conflict quartz crystal.
In the case of atoms and ions, electrons are transmitted between very specific energy levels. And when this transition occurs, energy is emitted or absorbed in the form of an electromagnetic wave at a very specific and fixed frequency. Scientists use this frequency as the “pulse” of the clock, and therefore the vibrating ion is the natural oscillator that determines the “beats” of the clock.
Besides, the aluminum is less affected by environmental factors such as heat and magnetic, which makes it perfect as “atomic pendant”.
The energy levels in aluminum ion are perfectly suitable for stimulation using a high -resolution laser, which is necessary to adjust the atomic clock.
Ion trap
But the matter did not pass without challenges, as aluminum is difficult to control directly, so it was combined with an ion, which cools aluminum and helps to read the quantum state, through the so -called “Specterscopia Logic”, which is a revolutionary technique in quantum physics that allow scientists to measure the ion properties that are difficult to reach directly, by controlling another ion that is easy to deal with.
In this case, scientists put aluminum ion and magnesium ion together in the “ionic trap” that makes the two ion very close to the extent that they shake together as if they were on a joint savings board.
After that, the magnesium is cooled with laser until it almost stops the movement, so the aluminum is also forced to stop because they are connected.
Scientists cannot measure aluminum properties directly because it is very weak. Instead, they study magnesium, which gives a clear impact, and gives information about the aluminum condition because it is associated with it.
The bottom line is that the aluminum is used as a “oscillator” to determine time, but it does not issue strong photons to measure, while magnesium cools the system, and works as a “guard” that reads the results accurately.
Deficiency challenges
Experiments faced additional challenges, as building an ion trap caused a “extra movement” that affects the accuracy of the hour, and then the researchers improved the design of the trap, used a chip of diamonds and supported it with a balanced golden layer to reduce unwanted electric fields, according to an official statement from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
As for the steel surfaces in the experiments, which used to launch small hydrogen molecules, they were replaced by a vacuum of titanium, reduced pollution by 150 times, giving ions longer to work without noise.
With all the above criteria, scientists could measure units of 10⁻¹⁹, i.e. accuracy to 19 ten status, and the experiment has become more stable, as the measurement of time requires only one and a half day instead of 3 weeks.
Reinforcement of time
These results help to redefine scientists to time more precisely. The International Charter of Units is currently based on the frequency of microbial waves of Cesium 133, but the new watches outperform them accurately, and are the expected basis for a new definition of the minute in the near future.
The GPS (GPS) depends on a very exact time. Rather, the estimated error of one billion part of a second may lead to an error in the location of about 30 centimeters, and then the high -precision hours reduce these errors and make aircraft and self -driving vehicles safer and accurate, and even navigation in the deep space is possible with amazing accuracy.
Also, the watches of this type allow the study of many physical phenomena such as gravitational changes on the ground with nanotechnology, and even a slight difference in height (such as one millimeter) can show the effects of the theory of the theory of Albert Einstein.
Besides, the watches with this accuracy give a solid base for the development of future lines systems, such as quantum computers and quantum connections, as their basic elements are based on precise control in quantum cases.
In physics laboratories, the fine hours help measuring distances and times on atomic measures, and can improve our understanding of the universe by tracking the signals coming from the vibrant stars or gravitational waves.