Have you heard of optical atomic clocks?

Precision timekeeping is moving on from atomic clocks, which use cesium atoms cooled to a temperature near absolute zero.

By measuring the resonant frequency of these atoms, it can keep a beat. The most advanced atomic clocks do not lose more than a second in 300 million years.

That’s pretty accurate.

But it turns out there might be an even better way.

Researchers have realized that they can use a “web of light”, or technically an optical lattice, to trap and measure tens of thousands of atoms in order to generate an even more accurate time.

The 40,000 strontium atoms held by the optical atomic clock are “powered” by the ticking of the clock which creates a transition between specific energy levels for the electrons in the atom.

Through this process, researchers were able to measure time with an uncertainty of 8.1 parts per tenth of a billionth of a billionth.

“There will be very interesting discoveries that are waiting for us if we get to the times that are sensitive to the very small space-time curvature,” senior author Professor Jun Ye told IFLScience when it was announced he had won the 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

And that’s why that level of precision matters; things such as GPS, which would become at least 1,000 times more accurate if using optical clocks.

It would also open new ways to test fundamental physics, such as studying general relativity.

The exceptional precision helps researchers check if their assumptions are correct to a more exact level, and possibly even see things that have not been seen before.

“We’re exploring the frontiers of measurement science,” Ye said in a statement. “When you can measure things with this level of precision, you start to see phenomena that we’ve only been able to theorize about until now.”

“This clock is so precise that it can detect tiny effects predicted by theories such as general relativity, even at the microscopic scale. It’s pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with timekeeping.”

This level of precision could also open doors for discoveries in quantum computing, according to Ye.

“If we want to land a spacecraft on Mars with pinpoint accuracy, we’re going to need clocks that are orders of magnitude more precise than what we have today in GPS,” added Ye, who’s from the National Institute of Standard and Technology and the University of Colorado Boulder. “This new clock is a major step towards making that possible.”

The impact of this discovery will have far-reaching effects, from the apps on your cell phone to the depths of the universe.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about the mysterious “pyramids” discovered in Antarctica. What are they?