Optical Clock

 In April 2015, an Optical Clock was tested in Space for the 1st time. These types of clocks are more accurate than the atomic clock which is accurate to 1 second in 10s of billions of years. The mechanism that makes the atomic clocks work has been too unwieldy and fragile to use in space and the optical clock is being tested as an alternative.

Optical clocks on Earth can split time more finely than any previous clocks, and in space, they could be useful as reference points for GPS, coordinating satellites and probing fundamental physics.[1]

Five of the most precise clocks ever made include[2]:

1. The NIST F2 helps to determine the standard second used by scientists all over the world. The NIST F2 also synchronizes telecommunications and even trading in financial markets for the official time of day.

2. University of Tokyo/ RIKEN built an optical lattice clock which measure the oscillations of ensembles of trapped atoms, and so can average out any errors. Its accuracy is about a second every 4.4 billion years

3. The NIST / JILA strontium clock is a strontium lattice clock that reached a precision of 1 second every 5 billion years

4. The Aluminum Quantum Logic Clock has a precision of a second per 3.7 billion years. Because the states of aluminum are hard to measure accurately, the aluminum is coupled to a beryllium atom. This is a similar process to that used in quantum computing setups.

5. The Shortt-Synchronome Mechanical Clock was invented in 1921 and was a standard scientific instrument in observatories until atomic clocks replaced it.

[1] https://www.space.com/34762-optical-clock-tested-in-space.html

[2] https://www.livescience.com/50195-most-precise-clocks-ever-made.html

[3] https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/5/17/15646450/antikythera-mechanism-greek-computer-astronomy-google-doodlen 

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