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Researchers at the Chinese Scientific and Technical University have developed a modern optical clock using strontium atoms. This instrument has achieved such high accuracy that a one-second error can occur over 30 billion years, which is longer than the age of the Universe. According to experts, this revolutionary tool may create the need to determine the second and revise the time measurement.
According to Science Alert, the second was previously defined as 1/86400 of a day, and this definition has now been found to be insufficiently accurate. Since 1967, in the International System of Units, a second is considered equal to the transition period between two ultrafine energy levels of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom - which corresponds to 9,192,631,770 radiation cycles.
Strontium atoms offer approximately 700 billion radiation cycles per second, allowing for more precise measurements of the second. Such modern technologies are important for satellite navigation, telecommunications, accurate and high-quality measurements.
Also, the strontium optical clock can be used in testing fundamental theories of physics, detecting gravitational waves, searching for dark matter, and other scientific research. This discovery will open up new opportunities in the field of modern technology and exact sciences in the coming years.
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