Physicists Discover a Completely New Method for Measuring Time

Measuring time in our world of ticking clocks and swinging pendulums is as straightforward as counting seconds between “then” and “now.”

However, at the quantum scale, where electrons buzz unpredictably, “then” becomes difficult to pinpoint, and “now” often dissolves into uncertainty. In such cases, a traditional stopwatch is simply ineffective.

A potential answer may lie in the structure of the quantum haze itself, as suggested by a 2022 study from Uppsala University researchers in Sweden.

Their experiments focused on the wave-like behavior of a phenomenon known as the Rydberg state, uncovering a unique method for measuring time that doesn’t depend on a precise starting point.

Quantum Giants Energized by Lasers

Rydberg atoms, often described as the “over-inflated balloons” of particles, form when lasers energize atoms, pushing their electrons into high-energy states that cause them to orbit far from the nucleus.

Not every laser pulse needs to inflate an atom to exaggerated proportions. Lasers are commonly used to excite electrons into higher energy states for various purposes.

In some cases, a second laser tracks the electron’s movement, including changes over time. These “pump-probe” methods are useful for measuring the speed of ultrafast electronic processes, among other applications.

Advancing Quantum Computing and Beyond

Inducing atoms into Rydberg states is a valuable technique for engineers, particularly in developing advanced components for quantum computers. Over time, physicists have gathered extensive knowledge about how electrons behave when pushed into a Rydberg state.

However, these quantum behaviors resemble a chaotic roulette game more than the orderly movement of beads on an abacus, with every roll and jump compressed into a single unpredictable event.

The mathematical framework governing this erratic “Rydberg electron roulette” is called a Rydberg wave packet.

Similar to physical waves, multiple Rydberg wave packets interacting in a space create interference, producing unique ripple patterns.

By introducing enough Rydberg wave packets into an atomic system, these patterns become distinct markers of the time it takes for the wave packets to evolve relative to one another.

The physicists behind these experiments aimed to test the “fingerprints” of time, demonstrating that they were consistent and reliable enough to function as a form of quantum timestamping.

Laser-Excited Helium Atoms Reveal Quantum Timestamps

Their work involved analyzing laser-excited helium atoms and comparing the results to theoretical predictions. This showed that the unique signatures of the interference patterns could effectively represent durations of time.

“You typically need to define zero when using a counter—you start counting from a specific point,” explained physicist Marta Berholts of Uppsala University in 2022. “The advantage here is that you don’t need to start a clock; you simply examine the interference structure and determine, for example, ‘it’s been 4 nanoseconds.’”

A catalog of evolving Rydberg wave packet patterns could complement other pump-probe spectroscopy techniques, enabling precise measurements of events on a scale where defining “now” and “then” is impractical.

Crucially, these fingerprints don’t require a traditional starting or stopping point for time. It’s akin to timing an unknown sprinter by comparing their performance against runners with known speeds.

By identifying the interference patterns in Rydberg states within a sample of pump-probe atoms, researchers could timestamp events as brief as 1.7 trillionths of a second.

Future experiments might expand the method’s versatility by using other atoms or laser pulses of varying energies, creating a broader catalog of timestamps for diverse conditions.

Read the original article on: Science Alerrt

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