The Most Precise Optical Atomic Clock in Poland Begins to Tick

A state-of-the-art optical atomic clock has officially begun to tick. Developed by scientists and the first of its kind in Poland, the clock is just one of a handful of this caliber in the world.

The atomic clock is probably Poland's most precise clock-and it's large. It occupies four rooms at the National Laboratory for Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics.

The stability of the new clock stems from the advanced physical mechanisms it harnesses. In fact, it would take tens of billions of years for an error of a single second to accumulate. That's several times longer than the time that has passed since the Big Bang.

"We still have a long way to go to achieve such great stability," said Roman Ciuryo, the director of KL FAMO, in a news release. "Like every refined measurement device, our clock requires gradual, painstaking calibration, with certain improvements constantly being made. But already now, at the very beginning of our work, we have achieved greater stability than that required for clocks of this type of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris: we have an error of less than one second in tens of millions of years."

Optical atomic clocks consist of an atomic standard, an optical comb, and an ultra-precise laser. The frequency of the light generated by the laser is precisely tuned to match the difference in energy between strictly defined levels in the atoms trapped inside the atomic standard. Time is then measured by counting the oscillations in the electromagnetic field of the tuned and stabilized laser light.

"Truly precise time measurements demand that the results be constantly compared against many other clocks," said Micha Zawada, one of the researchers. "That is why, right from the start, we built two completely independent atomic standards. Readings form the two standards enable us to fine-tune the 'ticking' of the clock as a whole with significantly greater precision."

The new clock has started operating recently, so physicists are still working on tests to identify the device's properties. So far, though, it appears the clock is the most stable and most precise in Poland.

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).