Chinese Scientists Create an Optical Clock More Precise Than the Age of the Universe

Specialists from a scientific-technical university in China have succeeded in creating a modern optical clock using strontium atoms. This was reported by Zamin.uz.

This new device is so highly accurate that it will not have a one-second error even over 30 billion years. It is worth noting that this time span is even greater than the age of our Universe.

According to representatives of the scientific community, such revolutionary technology could initiate a new stage in defining the concept of a second and revising the general time measurement system. As noted in scientific publications, previously a second was defined based on dividing a day into twenty-four hours, and an hour into six hundred and sixty seconds.

However, this old definition does not fully meet the requirements of the present time. In the past, since 1967, in the international system of units, a second was accepted as equal to the period of a specific transition in the cesium-133 atom.

Although this measurement was carried out based on precise numbers, new discoveries demand even higher accuracy. Strontium atoms can provide nearly seven hundred billion radiation cycles per second.

This feature allows for a much higher level of precision in time measurement. The importance of such modern technologies is very significant, as they play a decisive role in satellite navigation, remote communication systems, and performing the most accurate and high-quality measurements.

At the same time, strontium-based optical clocks are expected to be widely used in testing fundamental theories of physics, detecting gravitational waves, and finding answers to questions about dark matter. This scientific achievement will open new opportunities in technology and exact sciences in the coming years and contribute to humanity’s deeper understanding of the laws of nature.