Time is almost up on the way we track each second of the day, with optical atomic clocks set to redefine the way the world measures one second in the near future. Researchers from Adelaide University worked with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the United Kingdom to review the future of the next generation of timekeeping.

They found that development is happening at such a fast rate that optical atomic clocks are well positioned to become the gold standard for timekeeping within the next few years, provided some technical challenges can be addressed.

“Optica l atomic clocks have advanced rapidly over the past decade, to the point where they are now one of the most precise measurement tools ever built. They’re more accurate than the best microwave atomic clocks and can even work outside the lab—this is a place that conventional atomic clocks have trouble venturing,” said co-author Professor Andre Luiten from Adelaide University’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing.