For a long time people tried to determine the exact time by the rotation of our planet. But this method is not entirely correct. Firstly, over the centuries, the Earth began to turn more slowly, and secondly, it began to do it unevenly. Noticing this, people began to make clocks, because they are more accurate in determining the time. The atomic clocks make it possible to achieve the super precision.

Historical Facts
Physicist William Thomson from England came up with the idea of atomic clock in 1879. He was the first to think that it was possible to use vibrations of particles to keep track of time in an ultra-precise way. He suggested using hydrogen. But the first attempt to put this idea into practice was made only in the 40s of the 20th century. The first atomic clocks appeared in Britain only in 1955. It was Louis Essen, a physicist from England, who created them. The mechanism was based on atoms of cesium-133. This made it possible for scientists to measure time more accurately than ever before. The first device, according to scientists’ calculations, could give an error of a maximum of one second only after 100 years. The mechanism was later improved upon. It was not possible to get an inaccuracy of one second from it until after 2 or maybe 3 million years. In the USSR, the idea to develop atomic clocks came to the mind of academician Basov N. G.

Design, operating principle
Atomic clock consists of several parts: electronic unit, quartz oscillator, quantum discriminator. Electronics is responsible for stability of operation, accuracy of the mechanism. In spite of the fact that atomic watches are complex by design, any country can produce them nowadays, and they can be used every day. According to their parameters, they are not heavy, small, and look beautiful on the hand. They managed to reduce the size of the watch by replacing the gears and springs with a mechanism which allows one to determine the frequency of electromagnetic radiation of cesium atoms when the particles are exposed to a laser beam.

This watch is based on cesium atoms and their vibrations. These particles are capable of being in + and – states. Moving from one kind to the other, they create a periodic precise process, which is considered to be a regulator of the atom-based clock code. To ensure that the device works accurately, cesium is evaporated in a furnace, thereby releasing the atoms. A magnet placed next to the furnace sorts the atoms with + energy bonds. Then the particles change their energy state with the help of the created microwave field in the magnet. A second magnet redirects the polarity-changing atoms to the receiving unit. Special devices monitor the balance of atoms with different energy states. We can say that the dream of mankind of a precise clockwork mechanism has come true, this process with atoms occurs constantly with the same periodicity.

It is possible to measure the exact time in addition to cesium particles by atoms: calcium, strontium, iodine, hydrogen, methane, rubidium. But it is still accepted that cesium particles are able to give the most accurate measurement, they have been taken as a standard.

What are atomic clocks, where are they used
On Earth today, there are no more accurate and stable mechanisms than atomic clocks, even the famous Swiss clocks are inferior to them in accuracy. Their pendulum is the vibration of molecules, atoms. Unlike standard watches, the oscillator of these devices is capable of producing more than 32,768 signals per second. The vibrations of the particles are not affected by temperature conditions, humidity, vibrations and many other factors.

These clocks are able to become assistants to the man in many spheres of his vital activity. It is difficult to do without them in navigation, to determine the location of a satellite or a spaceship, a rocket, a submarine, an airplane, a car. Satellite communication is used to locate.

The smallest model was created in 2011 by the developers of the company Symmetricom. Their watch is no bigger than a box of matches. It only needs 100 mW to function. And that’s not the limit. Perhaps in the future, atomic watches will be used everywhere and will displace quartz watches and mechanical watches with electronic mechanisms, because even today such devices are freely available in many stores.