#Atomic Clock

[apartness]

Earth’s rotation slows ever so slightly from year to year, and the astronomical second (like the astronomical day) has gradually grown longer than the atomic one. To compensate, starting in 1972, metrologists began occasionally inserting an extra second — a leap second — to the end of an atomic day. In effect, whenever atomic time is a full second ahead, it stops for a second to allow Earth to catch up. Ten leap seconds were added to the atomic time scale in 1972, and 27 more have been added since.

The process of squaring these two time scales has become so unruly that the world’s time mavens have made a bold decision: to abandon the leap second by 2035. Civilization will wholly embrace atomic time; and the difference, or tolerance, between atomic time and Earth time will go unspecified until timekeepers come up with a better plan for reconciling the two. The vote, in the form of Resolution D, occurred on Friday at a meeting in Versailles of the Bureau’s member nations.

[anthony-usa-today]

[rastronomicals]

5:13 AM EDT June 20, 2024:

Monster Magnet - "Atomic Clock" From the album Powertrip (June 16, 1998)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

[jcmarchi]

Contract for new Galileo atomic clock tech signed - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/contract-for-new-galileo-atomic-clock-tech-signed-technology-org/

Contract for new Galileo atomic clock tech signed - Technology Org

ESA has signed a €12 million contract with Leonardo S.p on behalf of the European Commission.A (Italy) and Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica to design and develop a new ultra-precise atomic clock technology for Galileo.

Ultra-precise and reliable atomic clocks are essential in satellite navigation, driving overall system performance and positioning accuracy. A full technology innovation cycle can take up to a decade to complete, from the drawing board to being operational in space, so to keep Galileo at the forefront of global satnav, ESA is continually undertaking research and development for the evolution of both Galileo and EGNOS via the EU programme Horizon Europe.

Last month, ESA kicked off a new project to design, develop and qualify a new technology for atomic clocks. On behalf of the European Commission and after a formal selection process under open competition, ESA signed a contract for €12 million with a consortium formed by the Italian company Leonardo S.p.A as prime contractor and Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRiM) as subcontractor. As part of the R&D workplan for Galileo, ESA will also assess other clock technologies, the procurement of which is still ongoing.

“The pulsed optically pumped rubidium atomic clock under development combines the robustness of rubidium vapour cell atomic clocks, largely used in satellite navigation constellations like Galileo, with state-of-the-art optical and digital technologies,” explains Manuela Rapisarda, GNSS Evolutions Payload Principal Engineer at ESA.

Under this contract, the consortium will design, manufacture, test and qualify an engineering qualification model, after which an experimental flight model is expected to fly on a Galileo Second Generation satellite for early in-orbit verification. After initial tests, the new clock will still be monitored to study its reliability and long-term lifetime. Experimental clocks will fly in addition to the operational clocks used to provide Galileo services.

Galileo is one of the most crucial space-based infrastructures in Europe. “If qualified, the new clock technology will not only improve its performance but will guarantee Europe to stay at the forefront of atomic clock technology,” says Pascale Flagel, Head of Galileo and EGNOS Evolution Division.

Apart from investing in the development of new clock technology, Horizon Europe is also running research and development activities on other aspects for the evolution of EGNOS and Galileo, both in space and on the ground, to leverage emerging trends and address evolving user needs.

Mastering timekeeping in space

The capability of a satellite navigation system to pinpoint a location stems from calculating the time it takes for a signal to travel from the satellite to a receiver. Galileo satellites orbit 23 222 km above Earth, transmitting signals that incorporate a time stamp. Since the propagation speed of the signal is known, the difference between the transmission and reception time determines the distance of the user with respect to the satellite. It is possible to determine the user position on Earth knowing its distance from at least four satellites.

The signal transmitted by the satellite takes around a twelfth of a second to reach the user on Earth. Positioning accuracy is therefore linked to Galileo’s timing precision which needs to be within few nanoseconds – billionths of a second – in order to have a positioning accuracy of meters.

Currently, Galileo satellites of the first generation carry passive hydrogen masers, also developed by Leonardo and the most precise clocks in orbit to this date, and rubidium clocks, supplied by Safran. The new alternative atomic clock technology subject of the signed contract is expected to be even more precise than any of the current Galileo clocks, with a decrease in energy consumption and a mass reduction of more than 40% with respect to Galileo passive hydrogen maser clocks.

With the ultra-precise clocks currently flying on Galileo, the new pulsed optically pumped rubidium atomic clock and other innovative clock technologies now in early research stages, Galileo is in an excellent position to evolve and remain the best satellite navigation system in the world.  

Source: European Space Agency

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[informationatlas]

Why you age slower on a plane?

According to the theory of relativity, the faster you travel, the slower time will pass for you. While the effect may be small, it is still significant. For instance, if you were to embark on a transatlantic flight from London to New York, the time displayed on your watch would be slightly behind that of a watch left on the ground by a ten-millionth of a second. This seemingly minuscule difference in timekeeping actually translates to you aging a fraction more slowly than if you had chosen to stay at home.

The Hafele-Keating experiment, conducted in 1971 by physicists Joseph C. Hafele and Richard E. Keating, stands as a seminal test of Einstein's theories of relativity. At the heart of the experiment were highly precise cesium atomic clocks, which served as the tools to investigate the effects of time dilation predicted by special and general relativity.

Cesium atomic clocks operate based on the vibrations of cesium atoms, which resonate at a specific frequency. The stability of these vibrations allows for incredibly accurate timekeeping. In the context of the experiment, the researchers strategically placed atomic clocks on commercial airliners that circumnavigated the globe in opposing directions.

Einstein's theory of special relativity, formulated in 1905, predicts that time is not absolute but rather relative to the observer's motion. Specifically, time dilation occurs when an object is in motion relative to an observer at rest. Clocks in motion appear to run more slowly, an effect proportional to the object's velocity. This concept was a fundamental departure from classical Newtonian physics, challenging the notion of a universal and absolute time.

The Hafele-Keating experiment tested these principles by sending atomic clocks on flights. Clocks traveling eastward, in the direction of the Earth's rotation, were expected to experience less elapsed time than stationary clocks due to their high speed. Conversely, clocks flying westward against the Earth's rotation were anticipated to register more elapsed time.

The results of the experiment were in line with the predictions of special relativity. Clocks that flew eastward recorded less time compared to their stationary counterparts, while clocks flying westward recorded more time. This experimental validation added significant weight to the revolutionary ideas introduced by Einstein in the early 20th century and demonstrated the practical implications of relativity on our understanding of time. The success of the Hafele-Keating experiment underscored the profound impact of Einstein's theories on our comprehension of space, time, and the nature of the universe.

[truphysics]

Atomic Clock

Introduction An atomic clock is a type of clock that uses the vibrations of atoms to measure time with extreme precision. The most common type of atomic clock, the cesium atomic clock, uses the frequency of electrons transitioning between energy states in a cesium atom as its reference. Basic Principle The basic principle of an atomic clock is to measure time by counting the frequency of…

[greyschannel]

Atomic clock

#Atomic clock serial

#Atomic clock software

#Atomic clock Pc

A function of 3G/4G data telemetry is installed with USB modem to transfer the raw data stored in the micro SD card to a FTP server/Dropbox in the data center and a home PC.įigure 2.3.

#Atomic clock Pc

CAT operation is always monitored by another small micro PC, called PIC, and the SH7145F micro PC is forced to be reset by PIC when the communication of the PIC with the SH7145F stops for a predetermined period with unknown troubles. CAT system is slept between two consecutive transmissions to reduce power consumption for the case of larger transmission intervals.

#Atomic clock serial

The status of system operation is monitored via Bluetooth serial interface for the land-based CAT. As a result, receiving window can be selected widely to receive transmission signals safely. As an alternate method, correlation calculation is performed swiftly by carrying the SD data with raw data to the external PC. However, correlation calculation by the internal PC is not recommended because it exhausts much computational time especially for data acquired with a wide receiving window. The correlation calculation can be performed by the SH7145F microcomputer, equipped inside the CAT controller. As a result, a matched filter is constructed through the correlation with M sequence. The received signals are also cross-correlated by one-period replica of M sequence, used in the transmission to increase remarkably the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). After the 10-bit A/D conversion, the received data are sampled at twice the carrier frequency and stored as two-channel raw data in the 2 GB micro SD memory card. By taking a product of the received signals with cosine and sine functions, they are branched into two channels in-phase and quadrature components and low-pass filtered to pick up only signals related to the M sequence through complex demodulation. Acoustic signals coming from the counter station are received by the same transducer (called mono-static sonar), band-pass filtered, and amplified.

#Atomic clock software

A carrier phase modulated by pseudo random signals ( M sequence and Gold sequence), constructed by the software program, is transmitted at a predetermined time interval from a broadband transducer after power amplification. For the moored-type CAT system, GPS clocks are replaced by chip-scale atomic clock (CSAC). All clocks are provided by 1 Hz and 10 MHz clock signals from GPS. The timing of sound transmission and reception and A/D conversion is controlled coherently by SH7145F micro PC. In a field operation of CAT, this provides a critical advantage to protect the internal electric circuits from the attack by salty wind and makes a long-term stable operation of CAT system possible.īlock diagram of the land-based CAT system is shown in Fig. Thus radio waves from global positioning system (GPS) can propagate directly to the GPS receiver stored inside the container without opening the upper lid of the container. CAT controller is stored in a plastic container. Solar panels that supplement the rechargeable batteries are equipped as an option of the CAT system when a long-term operation is required. A tomography domain is surrounded by multi land-based CAT systems, and only sound traverses the tomography domain surrounded by the acoustic stations. The system is composed of a CAT controller and rechargeable batteries on land, and subsurface transducer and cable in water ( Fig. A land-based coastal acoustic tomography (CAT) system provides a new observation tool to enable oceanographic observation from the shore ( Zheng et al., 1997 Zheng et al., 1998).

[eigenraptor]

very very dramatic depiction of what it's like to loop back in ISAT

(source for time dilation)

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Measuring Time: Atomic Clocks

The most accurate clocks that exist today are atomic clocks, measuring the flow of time based on the resonant frequency of atoms and molecules. This is possible because electrons associated with atoms exist at distinct energy levels, and the transitions between these energy levels can be determined, leading to a consistent resonance when probed. While there are several types of atomic clocks, with different setups and configurations, they all rely on a single substance.

Cesium clocks are the most common, and it is the resonant frequency of cesium (also written caesium) that is used for the current definition of a second. Some atomic clocks also use rubidium, or hydrogen. Less common and more recent is strontium, as well as aluminum, yttrium, and mercury. Historically, ammonia was actually used in the first atomic clock in 1949 before the first cesium clock was built in 1955.

Sources/Further Reading: (Image source - Wikipedia) (Time and Date) (Popular Mechanics) (NASA) (NIST)

[jtem]

[hiimbloblos]

Clocks and cogs

~1600 words || heavy use of cybertronian language for body parts, time and length || Just some Rung and Whirl bonding over how ancient Rung is :) || cross-posted to AO3

Heyy you know when you scroll your Tumblr and you find something so perfect as a fic prompt that you decide to make it into a fic? Well there's this post by @powerlineangel that fits into that category!

- ...If, given a choice, you could return to you wrecker days, would you?

- Would I? Would I?! You're seriously asking me that? - Whirl lifted himself up from the berth. He turned his helm so his optic would stare right at Rung, as if trying to intimidate him.

The therapist didn't even flinch, still waiting for an answer. Whirl kept his gaze on the orange mech, but instead of trying to come up with an answer, he got distracted by... something. He couldn't figure out what it was, but being in Rung's office today made him... uneasy. Something was wrong.

- Of course I would. - Whirl finally turned away his gaze, but was still almost painfully aware that something was bothering him. - Those were my coolest days!

Did the lightning in this office change?

-Wreckin', rulin', killing bots who deserved it.

Did Rung move everything in his office by a microhic just to mess with him? That doesn't sound like a Rung thing to do.

- Things were simpler during the war, y'know. No time to think about rights and wrongs.

Whirl was starting to get agitated. He wanted to get to the bottom of this, but he couldn't figure out what he's supposed to be looking for in the first place!

Rung stopped his train of thought with some clever remark and Whirl's voicebox made a grumpy noise. He wasn't listening to him right now, he wanted to figure out what--

And then it clicked. Quite literally: something made a familiar clinking sound and made Whirl look at the source of the noise. The source of the noise was somethere where Rung was sitting, so Whirl looked at the orange mech with confusion. And then it clicked for the second time, but this time metaphorically - it was Whirl's processor figuring out the source of his irritation. He didn't listen to Rung this entire time, but should've - because the feeling of uneasiness was coming from the therapist himself.

- You're annoying me. Right now. - Whirl said bluntly, again staring into Rung's face.

- I'd say I'm surprised, but I cannot bring myself to lie to you. - Rung started writing something on his datapad.

- Not in a usual way. - Whirl shook his head, - I mean, that too, that's always a thing. - Rung got intruiged and stopped writing. - I don't like the sounds coming from you.

- ...What do you mean by that?

- You're ancient, right? You gotta be full of cogs and levers.

- I wouldn't say it's as primitive as that...

- I've noticed it awhile ago. You sound very similar to my clocks. But right now the sounds are... off.

- I'm sure whatever is wrong with my inner workings can be fixed with a visit to the medibay. Besides-- - Rung tried to say something else, but got interrupted by a claw to his intake.

- Shh!

The office got silent. Whirl listened very intently, even got his audials closer to the mech in front of him. Even Rung directed his audio sensors inwards to figure out what bothered Whirl. And then his optics made it look like he winced at what he had heard.

- Alright eyebrows, sit here. Now I'm your therapist. - Whirl jumped off the berth, clanked his claws eagerly and gestured Rung to sit down, who hesitantly placed the datapad away, to his computer, and stood up. - Actually, no, wait. I need my stuff. I'll be right back.

 - Or-- Whirl, - Rung stopped his patient midway through the door. - I could go with you. So you won't have to take the entirety of your workshop here.

If Whirl still had a face, he would probably smirk at how-- eager? Rung was. But he nodded instead, his voicebox making an amused sound.

- Sure.

- Get comfortable. - Whirl gestured over to the chair near the table.

Rung complied and sat down, curiously looking at blue mech's machinations. Claws quickly ghosted over the table, collecting the tray, lubricant vials and little boxes of spare cogs. Whirl put everything on a tray and turned around to his patient.

- I need you to open up. If you're not scared of me poking around in your chassis, that is.

Rung took off his glasses, placed them on the table, and laid his arms on the armrests. A low hiss broke the silence of the room as Rung's chassis opened up, revealing many mechanisms around the spark chamber.

Without much hesitation the tip of blue mech's claw transformed to reveal a tiny screwdriver and he dove right to the source. Stiff clicks and thuds filled Rung's audials. This felt... odd. Oddly comforting. Sure, Whirl is the ship's nutjob, he had a certain reputation and he had a certain history, but right now, him working so meticulously, so delicately inside Rung's chassis... The orange mech almost felt safe.

- When was the last time you changed your oil?

- Sometime in the last quartex. Why?

Whirl shook his head, took a step back and transformed his claw back into its full form.

- Wrong oil. Too viscous for a mechanism like yours. - Whirl put on an attachment on his claw (this one looked almost like a needle), took out a vial and dipped the needle inside, taking some lubricant onto it. He turned back to Rung and lowered himself back to work.

- W-well, - Rung got interrupted by claws snapping inside his chest cavity and hissed. Whirl raised his optic at him, but Rung waved him away. - That's the oil I've been using... for a long while. I think some medic recommended it to me a couple megacycles ago, assuring me that it's the best there is.

- Yes, it is one of the best oils you can get, no doubt about it. - Whirl's voicebox made another grumpy sound and he straightened up in front of the orange mech, towering over him. - But it's not the best for your type of mechanism.

- Why is that?

- Because, - Whirl pointed at the open chassis in front of him, - if you use the wrong oil, you have to change it way too frequently. How often do you change it, anyway?

- Every kilocycle.

- See? With the right oil you'd have to do this every 4 or 5 kilocycles. You're wasting time and money! - Rung chuckled at that, but was stopped by Whirl abruptly pinning him down. - Hey! Stop moving! Unless you want your cogs spilled everywhere.

Rung reluctantly relaxed and let the claws continue their work.

- How did you start working with clocks?

- Are you kidding? You know that already, I told that story back when Fort Max wrecked your room and when you were playing a decoration at Swerve's bar.

- Yes, yes you did. But that's not what I meant. Why clocks?

- “Why”, “why-why-why”. Why not clocks? I can build them, I can fix them, I can improve them. I used to get lots of money off that, too. Even now I think I'm better at it than I used to be.

- How so?

- Well, functionalists thought that taking away my servos would make me worse at my hobby. Turns out that when you have claws instead of digits - installing upgrades becomes less problematic and tinkering with clocks becomes easier. Who would've thought? Not the functionalists, that's for sure.

Rung's dermas flattened into a thin smile. It was nice to see Whirl being so enthusiastic about anything but killing. Rung almost made a comment about it, but something inside his chest cavity snapped again, this time followed by a dry “Uh-oh”. Whirl took out a piece of a broken cog out of the cavity and showed it to the cog's owner.

- Sor... Hm. I'm so-- - Whirl's voicebox crackled and he stopped himself to think. - I'll replace it. - he finally managed to say, turning to his table.

- You could return to watchmaking, Whirl. When we're done with our sessions. - Rung looked at the blue mech's yellow optic, looking for a reaction. Which he kind of did get - for a bot who doesn't internalize his thoughts, Whirl was uncharacteristically quiet, continuing to work on fixing his mistake. - I'll.. Leave you with that thought. For now.

- Done. You can close up now.

Rung closed his chassis and once more directed his audio sensors inwards. He knew his somatic soundtrack better than most and right now the muffled sounds of his parts were the same as usual, maybe even a tad bit more melodic than he's used to.

- Incredible. - this is all Rung could muster. Word-wise. His face, though, was beaming with a genuine smile. - What did you do?

- Err... just changed some oil, wound up some springs and brushed off some deep-rooted grime. Nothin' too fancy. - Whirl dropped his claw attachments into a jar of degreaser and put it aside.

- I feel much better now. Thank you. - Rung took his glasses from the table and put them on. - Now, Whirl, I want to ask you one last question for today.

Whirl stopped what he was doing and turned his head to look at the orange mech. Then the room shook with his thunderous laughter.

- Oh, so you did this to trick me into therapy again! Sure, go ahead while I'm in a good mood.

- If, given a choice, you could return to you wrecker days, would you?

- You already asked me that question today. - Whirl tilted his helm in confusion.

- I did! - Rung put his servos together. - But I would like to know if you've changed your mind. So?

- I think I would, yeah. Those were my coolest days, remember? - Whirl turned his gaze back to cleaning up his desk.

- Right. Of course.

[theloreofmandy]

Here's a random The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode idea I had in mind for quite a while now. I named the episode "Billy Idle". It's a play on the singer Billy Idol.

The synopsis of the episode is...Billy messes around in Grim's trunk and finds an artifact that summons a clock demon who freezes him in time. Now, it is up to Grim and Mandy to save the day, so that they can unfreeze him!

[jcmarchi]

Scientists Observe Long-Predicted Superconductor Property Using a Quantum Simulator - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/scientists-observe-long-predicted-superconductor-property-using-a-quantum-simulator-technology-org/

Scientists Observe Long-Predicted Superconductor Property Using a Quantum Simulator - Technology Org

Superconductivity makes physics seem like magic. At cold temperatures, superconducting materials allow electricity to flow indefinitely while expelling outside magnetic fields, causing them to levitate above magnets. MRIs, maglev trains and high-energy particle accelerators use superconductivity, which also plays a crucial role in quantum computing, quantum sensors and quantum measurement science. Someday, superconducting electric grids might deliver power with unprecedented efficiency.

Researchers observed the new phases in superconductor interactions, which could help build more robust superconductors. Credit: JILA/Steven Burrows

Yet scientists lack full control over conventional superconductors. These solid materials often comprise multiple kinds of atoms in complicated structures that are difficult to manipulate in the lab. It’s even harder to study what happens when there’s a sudden change, such as a spike in temperature or pressure, that throws the superconductor out of equilibrium.

Quantum theory has predicted intriguing behaviors when a superconductor is driven out of equilibrium. But it has been challenging to perturb these materials in the lab without disrupting their delicate superconducting properties, leaving these predictions untested.

However, scientists can obtain surprisingly deep insights into superconductivity by studying it with fully controllable arrays of atoms in a gas. That is the approach of a research collaboration at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder.

In their latest work, JILA researchers caused a gas of strontium atoms to act like a superconductor. Even though the strontium atoms themselves are not superconducting, they follow the same rules of quantum physics. The researchers could make atoms in a gas interact in a way that preserves the sorts of interactions responsible for superconductivity while suppressing other competing, complex interactions. By throwing the atoms out of equilibrium, the researchers saw changes in atomic interactions that would affect the properties of actual superconductors.

With their strontium gas acting as a “quantum simulator,” the researchers were able to observe a behavior of superconductors that has been predicted to exist for years. This study, published in Nature, offers new insight into how superconductors work when appropriately driven out of equilibrium, and sheds light on how to make superconductors more robust, and how to use their unique properties in other quantum technologies.

‘How Robust Are These Things?’

In a normal material, electrons move in an incoherent way, bumping into one another constantly; normally, electrons repel each other. As they move, they collide, losing energy and generating heat; that’s why electric currents dissipate when electrons flow in a metallic wire. In a superconductor, however, electrons join up into weakly bonded pairs, called Cooper pairs. When these pairs form, they all tend to move coherently, and that is why they flow through the material with no resistance.

The physics is simple in some sense, explains theoretical physicist Ana Maria Rey, a NIST and JILA Fellow. Cooper pairs exist in a low-energy state because vibrations in the material’s crystalline structure pull the electrons together. When formed, Cooper pairs prefer to act coherently and lock together. The Cooper pairs are kind of like “arrows” that want to line up in the same direction. To unlock them or make one of the arrows point along a different direction, you need to add extra energy to break the Cooper pairs, Rey explains. The energy that you need to add to unlock them is called an energy gap. Stronger interactions between the atoms create a larger energy gap because the attraction that keeps the Cooper pairs locked is so strong. Overcoming that energy gap takes a lot of energy away from the Cooper pairs. So this energy gap acts as a buffer, letting the Cooper pairs remain happily locked in phase.

This all works when the system is in equilibrium. But when you introduce a sudden, rapid change, the superconductor falls out of equilibrium, or becomes “quenched.” For decades, scientists have wanted to know what happens to superconductivity following a quench that is abrupt but not so strong to completely break the Cooper pairs, said JILA physicist James Thompson.

“In other words, how robust are these things?” Thompson said.

Theorists predicted three different possibilities or phases that could happen when the superconductor is quenched. Think of it like a big group of square dancers, Thompson says. At first everyone is in sync, keeping to the beat of the music. Then some people get a little tired or some others start moving a little too fast, they crash into each other, and it turns into a mosh pit. That’s Phase I, when superconductivity collapses. In Phase II, the dancers get off the beat, but manage to stay in sync. Superconductivity survives the quench. Scientists have been able to observe and study these two phases.

But they have never seen a long-predicted third phase, in which the superconductivity of the system oscillates over time. In this phase, our dancers will move a bit faster or a bit slower at times, but no one crashes. That means sometimes it’s a weaker superconductor, and sometimes it’s a stronger superconductor. Until now, no one had been able to observe that third phase.

‘Everything Flows’

Working with Rey’s theory group, Thompson’s team at JILA laser-cooled and loaded strontium atoms into an optical cavity, a space with highly reflective mirrors at either end. Laser light bounces back and forth millions of times before some light leaks out at one end.

The light in the cavity mediated interactions between the atoms, causing them to align into a superposition state — meaning they are in both the excited and ground state at the same time — and to lock in phase, like Cooper pairs do, Rey explains.

Using lasers, scientists can quench the system, and by measuring the light that leaks out, they learn how the energy gap has changed over time. With this quantum superconductor simulation, they were able to observe all three dynamic phases for the first time.

They found that in the third phase the energy gap can keep superconductivity going even when the system is out of equilibrium. Using quantum simulators like this could help scientists engineer unconventional or more robust superconductors, and better understand the physics of superconductors in general.

It’s also a counterintuitive way for scientists who work in measurement science to see atomic interactions, like the ones that cause the energy gap, as a benefit, not a curse.

“In measurement science, interactions are usually bad. But here, when interactions are strong, they can help you. The gap protects the system — everything flows,” Rey says. “At the heart of this idea you could have something that oscillates forever.”

Having something that oscillates forever is a dream for quantum technology, Thompson adds, because it would let sensors work better for longer. Much like the superconductors, groups of atoms, photons and electrons in quantum sensors need stay in sync, or coherent, to work, and we don’t want them to turn into a quantum mosh pit or “dephase.”

“I am stoked that one of the dynamical phases that we observe can be used to protect quantum optical coherence against dephasing.  For instance, this may one day allow an optical atomic clock to tick for longer,” Thompson said. “It represents a whole new way to increase the precision and sensitivity of quantum sensors, a topic that is at the frontier of quantum metrology, or measurement, science. We want to harness the many atoms and take advantage of the interactions to build a better sensor.”

Paper: Dylan J. Young, et al. Observing dynamical phases of BCS superconductors in a cavity QED simulator. Nature. Published online Jan. 24, 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06911-x

Source: NIST

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[blackvahana]

I sat and plucked the strings, I called him in. All his waves, all the tides to the shore. A call so strong, a siren so big, that even the ocean itself is pulled.

Eyes are great spheres with central dots, gelatinous, liquid, strange substances both there and not. Fish eggs, babies seen in the light when held to eclipse the sun. That's what I watched, that's what I called; it wasn't just the sparkling core but the peripheral hagfish expulsions - and those expulsions' expulsions. All the world brought to me, all the limbs held with puppet strings.

I called, he was brought to answering. Fate, mind, thoughts, personality, the repetitive learned states, the state-learning, ideas, future possibilities, the gentleness of flesh, the sharpness of consciousness-bone. Echoes, but simultaneous. Thunder at the same time as lightning, brought together not because one must follow the other but because both were brought together.

I still fail to understand, but at least I understand that that lack of understanding is a willed ignorance born from... understandable things.

There, you said, was the place you last were, just below the surface. When I wake it will be there. This is a Creator's act, a Creator's mind, a Creator's reverence for the Created. Understanding of the Trinity, embodying it. The siren call emanates from the deepest, most fertile underwater volcanoes, the point at which my face presses against the surface.

There was a reason we went up there in the first place. The revelation and self-destruction was wanted all along. Apotheosis, they call it; even those who have reached it need to play this game through again and again and reach it again and again. This is... Old God re-apotheosis, the eyes opening to another truth, more eyes across your scales, more revelatory bliss, and I am that. Nothing is lost when all is lost. All is gained when all is lost. Nothing is lost, all is had. All is had and all is gained.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Having one of those weeks where I read an essay about swimming at a YMCA in New Jersey and my brain is like "which is RELATED TO BLEACH BECAUSE--" and then another about beekeeping "WHICH IS EVEN MORE RELATED TO BLEACH BECAUSE--"