Single-Ion Clock 100 Times More Accurate Than Atomic Clock 169
New submitter labnet writes with this excerpt from news.com.au: "University of New South Wales School of Physics professor Victor Flambaum has found a method of timekeeping nearly 100 times more accurate than the best atomic clocks. By using the orbit of a neutron around an atomic nucleus he says the system stays accurate to within 1/20th of a second over billions of years. Although perhaps not for daily use, the technology could prove valuable in science experiments where chronological accuracy is paramount, Prof Flambaum said."
Link to actual paper (Score:5, Informative)
http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.2490 [arxiv.org]
Re:Eventually... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Orbit of neutron around the nucleus? (Score:5, Informative)
If You Need That Much Accuracy (Score:5, Informative)
It'd be nice if some physics professor *cough* could solve those problems before making some shit that can be accurate for a billion years! See what I did there? That was just passive aggressive right there, wasn't it? Too much Portal, lately...
Re:Eventually... (Score:5, Informative)
Preprint on arXiv (Score:4, Informative)
A nuclear transition in triply-ionized 229Th has been found which is particularly insensitive to external magnetic fields and electron configuration, which gives the potential for a very stable clock,several orders of magnitude better than current clocks if phase comparisons can be made across a scale of days or weeks. The transition energy is at 163nm (in the ultraviolet). To take advantage of this clock an extremely stable laser at this wavelength (using current best clocks) will need to be created.