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Ceasul Cu Incalcire Cuantica Engleza

The document discusses how quantum entanglement can be used to improve the precision of atomic clocks. It describes how entangling the atoms in an atomic clock reduces inherent uncertainties and can lead to clocks that are 1000 times more stable than non-entangled clocks. The document provides technical details on how lasers are used to cool and manipulate cesium atoms, launching them into a microwave cavity to define the second based on the atoms' resonance frequency. It explains that entangled atomic clocks can observe the atoms for longer periods, achieving unprecedented accuracy compared to traditional room-temperature cesium clocks.

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Luparu Dorian
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30 views4 pages

Ceasul Cu Incalcire Cuantica Engleza

The document discusses how quantum entanglement can be used to improve the precision of atomic clocks. It describes how entangling the atoms in an atomic clock reduces inherent uncertainties and can lead to clocks that are 1000 times more stable than non-entangled clocks. The document provides technical details on how lasers are used to cool and manipulate cesium atoms, launching them into a microwave cavity to define the second based on the atoms' resonance frequency. It explains that entangled atomic clocks can observe the atoms for longer periods, achieving unprecedented accuracy compared to traditional room-temperature cesium clocks.

Uploaded by

Luparu Dorian
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The atomic clock with quantum entanglement

Luparu Dorian
Faculty of Optical Physics, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania

We show in this article an upgraded version of the already used atomic clock, the
upgrade being an interferometer that entangles the used matter waves.

Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance." Now The precision of an atomic clock depends on a number of
researchers funded by NASA use a stunning property of things, including the number of atoms used. The more
quantum mechanics called "entanglement" to improve atoms, the better. In a normal atomic clock, accuracy is
atomic clocks - the most accurate way of mankind to proportional to the square root of the number of atoms.
measure time. Entangled clocks could be at least 1000 So, say, 4 times as many atoms would only double
times more stable than their non-entangled precision.
counterparts.
Two entangled particles often must have opposite In an entangled atomic clock, however, the improvement
values for a property - for example, if one has its spin is directly proportional to the number of atoms. Four
"up", the other must have its spin "down". Suppose you times more atoms makes 4 times better clock. Using
measure one of the entangled particles and thereby plenty of atoms would make it possible to build a
you knock it "up." "maximum correlated clock stable to about one part in
This makes the entangled partner have its spin "down." 1018 ", says Kuzmich. You should watch the clock 1018
Making the measurement "here" affected the other seconds or 30 billion years to notice the loss of one
particle "over there" instantaneously, even if the other second.
particle is a million miles away.
Quantum entanglement occurs when two or more Kuzmich is planning to use the lasers already integrated
particles interact in a way that makes their fates in atomic to create entanglement (see figure 1). "We will
become intertwined: it is impossible to consider (or measure the phase of the laser light passing through the
mathematically describe) each particle provided cloud of atoms," he explains. Phase measurement
independently of the other. Together they constitute a "tweaks the beam” and if the laser frequency was
single pure quantum state. chosen properly, the disturbance of beam causes the
Atomic clocks also benefit. "Entangling the atoms of an atoms to become entangled. Or, as a quantum physicist
atomic clock reduces the uncertainties inherent in the might say, "such a procedure produces a non-demolition
system," says Kuzmich. quantum measurement (QND) on atoms and results in
preparing a squeezed spin state."

At the heart of every atomic clock lies a cloud of atoms,


usually caesium or rubidium. Natural resonances of Technical Description
these atoms serve the same purpose as the pendulum First, a gas of cesium atoms is introduced into the clock's
of a grandfather clock. A laser beam coming through vacuum chamber. Six infrared laser beams then are
the cloud can count the oscillations and oscillations are directed at right angles to each other at the center of the
used to measure time. This is how an atomic clock chamber. The lasers gently push the cesium atoms
works. together into a ball. In the process of creating this ball,
the lasers slow down the movement of the atoms and
"The best atomic clocks on Earth today are stable to
cool them to temperatures near absolute zero.
about one part in 1015," notes Kuzmich. This means that
Two vertical lasers are used to gently toss the ball
an observer would have to look at the clock 1015
upward and then all of the lasers are turned off. This
seconds or 30 million years to see the gain or loss of a
little push is just enough to loft the ball about a meter
single second.
high through a microwave-filled cavity. Under the
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influence of gravity, the ball then falls back down hundred meters per second. Since the atoms are moving
through the microwave cavity. so fast, the observation time is limited to a few
milliseconds. The entangled clock uses a different
The round trip up and down through the microwave approach.
cavity lasts for about 1 second. During the trip, the Laser cooling drops the temperature of the atoms to a
atomic states of the atoms might or might not be few millionths of a degree above absolute zero, and
altered as they interact with the microwave signal. reduces their thermal velocity to a few centimeters per
second. The laser cooled atoms are launched vertically
When their trip is finished, another laser is pointed at and pass twice through a microwave cavity, once on the
the atoms. Those atoms whose atomic state were way up and once on the way down. The result is an
altered by the microwave signal emit light (a state observation time of about one second, which is limited
known as fluorescence). The photons, or the tiny only by the force of gravity pulling the atoms to the
packets of light that they emit, are measured by a ground.
detector. As you might guess, the longer observation times make it
This process is repeated many times while the easier to tune the microwave frequency. The improved
microwave signal in the cavity is tuned to different tuning of the microwave frequency leads to a better
frequencies. Eventually, a microwave frequency is realization and control of the resonance frequency of
found that alters the states of most of the cesium cesium. And of course, the improved frequency control
atoms and maximizes their fluorescence. This leads to what is one of the world's most accurate clocks.
frequency is the natural resonance frequency of the
cesium atom (9,192,631,770 Hz), or the frequency used ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
to define the second.
The combination of laser cooling and the fountain NIST-F1 was developed by Steve Jefferts and Dawn
design allows the entangled atomic clock to observe Meekhof of the Time and Frequency Division of NIST's
cesium atoms for longer periods, and thus achieve its Physical Measurement Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado.
unprecedented accuracy. Traditional cesium clocks It was constructed and tested in less than four years. The
measure room-temperature atoms moving at several current NIST-F1 team includes physicists Steve Jefferts
and Tom Heavner.
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FIG. 1: Lasers are a key ingredient in atomic clocks, both in non-entangled and entangled ones.
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[1] Steve Jefferts, Dawn Meekhof and Tom Heavner –


“NIST-F1 Cesium Fountain Atomic Clock”, NIST's
Physical Measurement Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado

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