Shimadzu: Developed portable / optical lattice clock: Verification of general relativity theory

Shimadzu: Developed portable / optical lattice clock: Verification of general relativity theory

~ Verification of general relativity at Tokyo Sky Tree ~

Shimadzu Corporation:

Summary of presentation:

The world’s first successful development of a portable optical lattice clock with an accuracy of 18 digits (one second in 10 billion years).
Using a portable optical lattice clock installed on the ground floor / observation deck of Tokyo Sky Tree, we observe gravity redshift and verify general relativity theory.
The verification accuracy obtained in this study is close to that of experiments using satellites that previously required a height difference of 10,000 kilometers.

Applications: portable / optical lattice clock

Demonstration of high-precision portable optical lattice clocks outside the laboratory” is a major step toward social implementation of optical lattice clocks.

In the future, practical use of relativistic sensing technology such as “monitoring crustal deformation caused by plate movement and volcanic activity” is expected.

2020 | News | Shimadzu Corporation

https://www.shimadzu.co.jp/news/press/4nuik3hd982hefif.html

RIKEN: Joint Research Group

In collaboration with Shimadzu Corporation, we have developed an “ultra-high precision 18-digit precision portable optical lattice clock”.

Measured “Differences in the way the two clocks set on the ground floor / observation deck of Tokyo Sky Tree”
Compare this result with the elevation difference measured by GSI,
Successful verification of general relativity with accuracy approaching that of experiments using conventional satellites.

Conventional method: space experiment

In the past, atomic clocks were mounted on satellites and rockets and measured at a height of about 10,000 kilometers / space between space and the earth’s surface.

The method this time: Tokyo Sky Tree

By using the portable optical lattice clock developed this time, the same experiment was possible with a height difference of 10,000 times or less.

If you use an 18-digit atomic clock, you can observe time delays due to differences in the height of the “daily scale”.

As a result, a new “relativistic sensing technology” was born.

High accuracy: portable optical lattice clock

Monitoring of vertical movement of the crust by several centimeters due to plate movement and volcanic activity,
Complementary use with GNSS (Global Positioning Satellite System) and high-sensitivity gravimeter,
Establishment of an ultra-high-precision elevation difference / gravity field measurement system,

It is expected to be implemented in the future social infrastructure.

http://www.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/foe/press/setnws_202004071401382830455235.html