AFRL’s Quantum Sensing & Timing (QST) group looks into the development of advanced atomic clocks to further improve time measurements and investigates ways to use and distribute the precise time. (AFRL)
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — What difference does a nanosecond make? If you’re using your phone’s GPS to find the nearest Starbucks, not much. But for satellites zipping along in low orbit at five miles per second, radio waves moving at the speed of light, or AI chips doing billions of calculations per second, being off by one billionth of a second actually matters.
That’s why the US military wants to move beyond the GPS timing signal — which is accurateto less than 30 nanoseconds, and which enemies can jam — to compact “quantum clocks,” small enough to fit in a missile warhead or small drone and accurate to the picosecond (one thousandth of a nanosecond) or beyond.
Last year, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the US Navy, and foreign partners from the ultrasensitive Five Eyes alliance collaborated to test quantum tech at sea during the annual Rim of the Pacific exercises, AFRL official Michael Hayduk said this morning. That includedtests of quantum sensors and navigation systems — both of which rely on precision timing — as well quantum clocks, he said. The goal was take bulky experimental systems from the lab — “very large, lots of lasers” — and shrink them down to fit aboard a ship, while making them rugged enough to preserve their atomic-scale accuracy despite the constant motion of the ocean, he told the Air Force Association conference outside DC.
“We were kind of surprised how good some of the results were,” Hayduk said. “We’re going to go back [to the lab] and continue to tweak.”
So how close are quantum clocks to militarily relevant reality, given all the often-overheated quantum hype? Consider that full-scale quantum computers, capable of breaking any existing encryption, are generally considered to be more than a decade away. Last year, the NSA officially set a deadline for defense contractors to implement new quantum-proof algorithms by 2035 [PDF].
But a quantum clock is a much simpler piece of hardware, and therehave been major advances in crucial underlying technologies, especially the ultra-precise lasers used to measure and manipulate individual atoms oscillating billions of times per second.
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“When we look at quantum capabilities that could be near-term relevant in five to 10 years… something we can shove in any old aircraft… it really comes down to timing — clocks that are millions of times better than today’s atomic clocks,” said Heather “Lucky” Penney, a former fighter pilot now at AFA’s Mitchell Institute. Of all the potential applications of quantum tech, she told the AFA conference, “that is probably the nearest term capability.”
Clocks with “a million times” greater precision are “the nearest term” application of quantum tech, agreed Chester Kennedy, who oversees research and security applications at ColdQuanta.
Today’s atomic clocks are bulky and expensive, which means they can be accommodated aboard a small number of bulky, expensive platforms, like GPS satellites. But, Kennedy told Breaking Defense after the AFA panel, quantum clocks are not only exponentially more accurate, improvements in miniaturization mean it should soon be possible to shrink them to the size of a water bottle.
That means you could accommodate quantum timing aboard a modestly sized drone, or in an electronic warfare pod on a jet fighter, or in the targeting systems of a hypersonic missile, instead of relying on a GPS timing signal that enemy electronic warfare units could jam. And with exponentially more precise timing, quantum-equipped forces could hop frequencies more frequently to avoid enemy jamming, transmit more devilishly complex jamming themselves, and deliver precision ordnance more accurately.
Of course, all this depends on getting today’s accurate but bulky quantum clocks small and tough enough to work on the frontline. That’s not a challenge the commercial sector or academia have much incentive to solve, warned several of the panelists, so the Pentagon has to lead the way on miniaturization R&D — and pay for it.
“The people that are doing the quantum information science R&D are not experts in mission-level sensing or mission-level timing,” said Tanner Crowder, a quantum expert at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. “They don’t know necessarily what it takes to take something that’s sprawled out on a 4×8 optics breadboard and … make it go on a ship or on a plane.”
FAQs
This new design is apparently accurate to within 8.1 parts per 10 quintillion (a 10 followed by 19 zeroes). In other words, the clock would only be out by one second if it ran for 30 billion years – that's more than twice the current age of the universe.
Are quantum clocks more accurate than classical ones? ›
Thus, another important question is: can a quantum clock be more precise than a classical one of the same size? Here we prove that quantum clocks are indeed more precise than classical clocks. Clocks emit information to the outside, and they are fundamentally open systems.
Who invented quantum clock? ›
A quantum clock is a type of atomic clock with laser cooled single ions confined together in an electromagnetic ion trap. Developed in 2010 by physicists at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, the clock was 37 times more precise than the then-existing international standard.
What is the future of clocks? ›
In the future, atomic clocks will be based on optical, rather than microwave atomic transitions. We expect future clocks to be improved by a factor of 100 over those of today. Experimental systems based on aluminum, mercury, ytterbium, calcium, and strontium have been demonstrated at NIST.
What is the most accurate clock in the world? ›
Atomic clocks are the most precise timepieces ever created. To preserve correct time, the clock employs an electronic transition frequency through an atom's electromagnetic spectrum as a frequency reference.
What kind of clock is the most precise? ›
Atomic clocks are so accurate that they will lose one second approximately every 100 million years; for reference, the average quartz clock will lose one second every couple of years.
Are atomic clocks the same as quantum clocks? ›
These atomic clocks are known as quantum clocks because they measure quantum fluctuations—very narrow energy transitions—within strontium atoms. In a typical setup, thousands of ultracold strontium atoms are held almost perfectly still in unison, in a lattice of intense laser light, inside an ultrahigh vacuum chamber.
What is the most accurate quantum mechanics? ›
Quantum mechanics (in the form of quantum electrodynamics) correctly predicts the magnetic moment of the electron to an accuracy of about one part in a trillion, making it the most accurate theory in the history of science.
What is the principle of quantum clock? ›
As a general feature, a quantum clock is a system in a superposition of energy eigenstates. Its precision, understood as the minimal time in which the state evolves into an orthogonal one, is inversely proportional to the energy difference between the eigenstates (7–11).
What is the Doomsday Clock in 2024? ›
In January 2023, the Doomsday Clock was moved to 90 seconds to midnight - this is the closest the hand has been to midnight since the clock was created in 1947, and it has remained this close in 2024.
Atomic clocks are not radioactive. They do not rely on atomic decay. Rather, they have an oscillating mass and a spring, just like ordinary clocks.
What is the NIST 7 atomic clock? ›
The NIST-7 provided a standard frequency rather than the time of day. To define the length of a second, the instrument measured with exquisite precision the frequency of microwaves absorbed by Cesium 133 atoms.
Which clock offers the most precision? ›
Researchers have built an atomic clock that is more precise and accurate than any previous clock. For the first time, the clock can detect the effects of gravity predicted by the theory of general relativity at the microscopic scale.
What is the clock of when the world will end? ›
The Doomsday Clock is a symbol that represents the likelihood of a human-made global catastrophe, in the opinion of the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Maintained since 1947, the clock is a metaphor, not a prediction, for threats to humanity from unchecked scientific and technological advances.
Are clocks becoming obsolete? ›
Despite an increasingly digital world, old fashioned analog clocks — the kinds with moving hands — can still be found in most American households in 2021, if not in great numbers.
Are atomic clocks perfectly accurate? ›
With an error of only 1 second in up to 100 million years, atomic clocks are among the most accurate timekeeping devices in history. Caesium clocks in Braunschweig, Germany.
How accurate is the atomic clock on a GPS? ›
GPS requires precise clocks to provide astounding positional accuracy. Atomic clocks in GPS satellites keep time to within three nanoseconds—three-billionths of a second. Position accuracy depends on the receiver. Most handheld GPS receivers are accurate to about 10 to 20 meters (33 to 66 feet).
What is the most precise optical clock? ›
The new JILA clock uses an 'optical lattice,' a web of light, to trap and measure tens of thousands of atoms simultaneously, enhancing precision. JILA researchers improved performance by using a gentler laser light web, reducing errors from laser effects and atomic collisions.
How precise is quantum physics? ›
Quantum mechanics (in the form of quantum electrodynamics) correctly predicts the magnetic moment of the electron to an accuracy of about one part in a trillion, making it the most accurate theory in the history of science.
