As we all know, the atomic clock is the most accurate timing tool at present. The most commonly used cesium atomic clock is the electromagnetic wave emitted by atomic absorption or release of energy. Because of the stability of electromagnetic waves and the assistance of a series of precision instruments, the accuracy of atomic clocks can reach hundreds of millions of years.

On this basis, scientists at California Institute of Technology and JPL recently developed new atomic clocks based on optical frequencies. The relevant papers have been published in the Physical Review X, the top physics journal.

The new clock design is based on 2 existing optical atomic clocks, which are based on the atomic clocks that capture a single charged atom (ion), and the atomic clocks that capture thousands of neutral atoms in the so-called optical lattice.

The first way, in capturing ions, is to precisely separate and control an atom (ion), which can improve the accuracy of the clock. The second way adopts the opposite way of thinking. The advantage of the optical array method is that the more atoms we have, the more atoms we have, the less uncertainty is generated by the random quantum fluctuations of individual atoms.

It is understood that the new atomic clock nicknamed "tweezers clock", derived from scientists using the so-called "laser tweezers" to manipulate the single atom research process. They use laser tweezers to precisely control 40 atoms, which combines the advantages of the 2 methods.

Here is an overview of the atomic array optical clock with a single atom readout. "Here we demonstrate a new optical clock system based on a single array of neutral atoms, which is readout by single atom."

In addition to accuracy, the greater significance of this technology lies in the fact that the system combines many advantages of ions and lattice clocks, and builds a bridge for quantum simulation and computation using neutral atoms.