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Singapore's Clocks Shatter Accuracy Records
8 Oct
Summary
- Two lutetium-ion clocks achieve unprecedented accuracy of 1.2 and 1.3 × 10⁻¹⁹.
- These new clocks surpass previous records held by Chinese and US atomic clocks.
- The breakthrough clocks operate at room temperature, unlike rivals needing extreme cooling.
Researchers at Singapore's Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) have developed two lutetium-ion clocks achieving record-breaking fractional uncertainties of 1.2 × 10⁻¹⁹ and 1.3 × 10⁻¹⁹. These figures represent the lowest uncertainties reported for any atomic clock to date, significantly outperforming previous records.
The new clocks are approximately 3.7 times more accurate than a leading calcium-ion clock from Wuhan and 4.6 times more accurate than a NIST aluminum-ion clock. A key advantage is their operation at room temperature, unlike competitor clocks that require extreme sub-zero conditions. The CQT team achieved this by comparing their two independent clocks for over 200 hours using correlation spectroscopy.
This advancement comes as the international community considers redefining the second, which has been based on cesium since 1967. While optical clocks now far exceed cesium's accuracy, a consensus on a replacement is still pending. The General Conference on Weights and Measures will discuss this further in October 2026, with a potential decision deferred to 2030. The CQT team plans to miniaturize their lab-scale clock into a transportable system for further verification.
