A team of scientists is developing high-precision timing for quantum technologies
Quantum systems will be crucial to future technologies. However, in order to use such systems in practical applications, it is necessary to control and manipulate them with great precision. A Hamburg research team has now succeeded in controlling and measuring a quantum system with hitherto unattainable temporal precision on the PETRA III beamline P01. They managed to control and detect oscillations inside an atomic nucleus, as well as the gamma radiation emitted, to within 1.3 zeptoseconds. A zeptosecond is 0.000 000 000 000 001 seconds; the thousandth part of a billionth of a billionth of a second. The new method developed by the team makes use of the fundamental excitations that occur within a solid. Precise adjustments of this kind are important when building quantum sensors, for example, to establish extremely precise time standards or to detect minute changes. The newly developed method may also have potential applications in quantum computers or quantum communication, as a way of making specific adjustments to such systems.
Read more on the DESY website
Image: View of the experiment at the PETRA III beamline P01 (in X-ray beam direction): The sample on the round table in the centre of the picture is connected to microwave measuring tips. The X-rays emitted by the sample are analysed at the end with a detector. Electromagnets with iron yokes around the sample table generate a magnetic field at the sample location to align the magnetisation in the sample
Credit: L. Bocklage/DESY