As we all know, the atomic clock is currently the most accurate timekeeping tool, the most commonly used cesium atomic clock, its every "tick" comes from the electromagnetic waves emitted when the atom absorbs or releases energy. Due to the stability of the electromagnetic wave itself, coupled with the assistance of a series of precision instruments, the accuracy of the atomic clock can even reach hundreds of millions of years with an error of 1 second.

On this basis, scientists at Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have recently developed a new atomic clock based on the frequency of light, which has been published in Physical Review X, a top journal in physics.

The new clock design is based on two existing optical atomic clocks, one based on capturing a single charged atom (ion) and one that traps thousands of neutral atoms in a so-called optical lattice.

In the first way, in the process of capturing ions, only one atom (ion) needs to be accurately separated and controlled, which can improve the accuracy of the clock; The second approach takes the opposite approach, and the advantage of the optical array approach is that there are multiple atoms – the more atoms, the less uncertainty there is due to random quantum fluctuations in individual atoms.

It is understood that this new atomic clock, nicknamed "tweezer clock", comes from the research process of scientists using so-called "laser tweezers" to manipulate individual atoms. They precisely controlled 40 atoms with laser tweezers, thus combining the advantages of both methods.

In this overview, titled "An Atomic Array Optical Clock with Single Atom Readout," it reads: "Here, we demonstrate a new optical clock system based on a set of individually captured neutral atomic arrays with single atom readout. ”

In addition to accuracy, the greater significance of this technology is that "the system combines many advantages of ion and lattice clocks, and builds a bridge for quantum simulation and calculation using neutral atoms."