An incredibly precise timekeeping device that experts say could revolutionise British intelligence is being developed at a top secret lab in the UK.
The Quantum Clock is expected to be rolled out in four years time and will help Royal Navy ships and Royal Air Force planes to navigate. It is also expected to ‘enhance the accuracy of advanced weapons’ like guided missiles, according to Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).
Quantum clocks use quantum mechanics to keep time with unprecedented accuracy by measuring energy fluctuations within atoms. Their use in military operations would be groundbreaking. The British quantum clock will be ‘the first device of its kind to be built in the UK’, according the UK government in a statement, but will not be a world first.
The lab is developing a quantum clock
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Image:
NIST)
It is much bigger than a normal clock
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Image:
NIST)
The University of Colorado at Boulder developed a quantum clock with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, back in 2010. The UK already has an atomic clock at the National Physical Laboratory in London, but this quantum clock will be the country’s first.
DSTL chief executive Paul Hollinshead said: “This first trial of an advanced atomic clock represents a significant achievement in the UK’s quantum technology capabilities The data gathered will not only shape future defence effort but is also a signal to industry and academia that we are serious about exploring quantum technologies for secure and resilient operational advantage.”
Technology expert Nick France told the Daily Mail: “A quantum clock is a type of atomic clock – essentially a super-accurate timekeeping device. Atomic clocks currently are incredibly accurate anyway, but a quantum clock has accuracy levels where only a single second is lost in billions of years of operation.
A quantum clock at the University of Colorado at Boulder
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Image:
University of Colorado at Boulder)
“Quantum clocks are not small like watches or alarm clocks. These are devices that in current implementations can be large, even room-sized devices. However, improvements in technology will decrease the size of these devices making them more portable.
“Super-accurate timekeeping is important to governments and militaries to enable accurate navigation (using GPS or similar technologies) of planes and ships, but also guidance of weapons systems such as missiles. Equally important to the military as well as civilians is secure communications. Much of the secure communications for governments and the military relies on accurate time sources to function.”