A portable atomic clock that has been successfully tested at sea could change the future of marine navigation.
Highly precise clocks could support future positioning systems that work even when satellite signals are unavailable or disrupted.
In telecommunications, they could improve the synchronisation of large networks that transmit enormous volumes of data every second, while scientists have proposed using them in radio astronomy, where extremely accurate timing helps link observations from telescopes around the world.
Adelaide University researchers have created a portable optical atomic clock that uses laser-cooled atoms of the element ytterbium to keep time with extreme precision. By cooling the atoms with lasers and measuring a very specific atomic transition, the clock can track time far more accurately than conventional systems.
Professor André Luiten, lead researcher on the project, said the goal was to take cutting-edge laboratory technology and make it usable in the field.
“Atomic...