Scienceblogtwo

Atomic clocks and quantum sensors for spotting dark matter or gravitational waves may become more accurate with the development of a novel method to monitor vibrating atoms. The quantum oscillations of atoms hold a tiny world of information. If researchers can precisely detect these atomic oscillations and how they change over time, they will be able to improve the accuracy of both atomic clocks and quantum sensors. Quantum sensors—systems of atoms that may be employed as detectors thanks to fluctuations—can reveal the existence of dark matter, the passage of gravitational waves, or even brand-new, unanticipated phenomena. A major obstacle to more accurate quantum measurements is the noise from the classical world, which may quickly overwhelm minuscule atomic vibrations and make any changes to those oscillations very impossible to detect. However, by treating the particles to two crucial processes—quantum entanglement and time reversal—MIT researchers have recently shown that they can ...