Quantum timekeeping is supposed to be the ultimate in efficiency, with tiny devices that tick using the rules of quantum mechanics instead of swinging pendulums or vibrating quartz. Yet new work on a ...

Scientists built a tiny clock from single-electron jumps to probe the true energy cost of quantum timekeeping. They discovered that reading the clock’s output requires vastly more energy than the ...

A study led by the University of Oxford has identified a surprising source of entropy in quantum timekeeping—the act of measurement itself. In a study published in Physical Review Letters, scientists ...

Keeping track of time seems simple. A watch ticks, a pendulum swings, and a calendar flips. But at the quantum level, marking time is far more complicated — and far more expensive than anyone expected ...

Nuclear effect The deformed shape of the ytterbium-173 nucleus (right) makes it possible to excite the clock transition with a relatively low-power laser. The same transition is forbidden (left) if ...

Graphic illustrating the difference in energy between running a quantum clock (left: a single electron hopping between two nanoscale regions) and reading the ticks of the clock (right). The energy ...

The steady tick of a clock usually feels simple and dependable. Something swings or vibrates in a controlled rhythm and marks the passing of each moment. What you rarely notice is the hidden cost ...