Atomic Clock Research Paper

Section-1

Atomic clocks are already the best thing we can have in today's world for time measurement (in terms of precision and accuracy) which is far more better then the ticks of pendulum. Now the researchers at National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed a new clock which uses a different approach for better accuracy. The researchers claim that it is more precise then the existing atomic clocks, roughly by a factor of 10. The present atomic clocks gain 1 second in about 30 million years. The new atomic clock developed by NIST researchers is such that it would gain 1 second in about 100 million years (which is really a very big achievement, but we can expect more such coming in near future). With this the definition

It employ a beam of cesium atoms. The clock separates cesium atoms of different energy levels by magnetic field.

Hydrogen Atomic Clocks. It maintain hydrogen atoms at the required energy level in a container with walls of a special material so that the atoms don't lose their higher energy state too quickly.

Rubidium Atomic Clocks. It is the simplest and most compact of all, use a glass cell of rubidium gas that changes its absorption of light at the optical rubidium frequency when the surrounding microwave frequency is just right.

The main principle involved with the atomic clock is that, it is uses the microwave signal that electrons in atoms emit when they change energy level. Currently, the most precise atomic clocks first cool the atoms to near absolute zero temperature by slowing them with lasers and probing them in atomic fountains in a microwave-filled cavity.

The most precise atomic clocks available today use the cesium atom and the normal magnetic fields and detectors. In addition, the cesium atoms are stopped from zipping back and forth by laser beams, reducing small changes in frequency due to the Doppler Effect.

Section-3 How do we know what a second really

A femtosecond (1 × 10−15 s) is to a second is what a second is to about 31.71 million years and an attosecond (1 × 10−18 s) is to a second is what a second is to about 31.71 billion years. Thus if we may operate at such a high precision, then the standards may move to adopting the new atomic clocks being made, which may also lead to various help in future (as the major units like meter, volts etc. also depends on the second). The experiments that are done in this 21st Century are leading to various results that may increase the limit of the current precision that we are limited to (By Standard Definitions). Experimental atomic clocks, i.e. the one that provide non Cesium based secondary representations of the second, are proved to be so precise that they just does not restrict themselves to the measurement of time and frequency, but are likely to be used as extremely sensitive detectors for other things. To understand it how, we can see for an example that the frequency of atomic clocks is altered slightly by gravity, magnetic fields, electrical fields, force, motion, temperature and several other phenomena. The experimental clocks continue to improve day by day, and leadership in performance has been shifted back and forth between various types of experimental clocks. Thus we may also bring the change, not only in the time or frequency analysis and precision, but also in various other fields, that we may not be having a clear