World's Smallest Clock Tells You Time With Just One Atom!

Till now, the question was how much accurate time can you get from a clock? The new question is, how simpler can the clock be? And the answer is, just one atom! Researchers at University of California, Berkeley have succeeded in developing a clock using a single cesium atom.
According to Holger Muller, the physicist  behind the research, the idea came from the thought that if you can't measure time with less than two particles, does than mean that anything below two particles doesn't experience time at all? The researchers made use of de Broglie's matter-wave hypothesis which states that matter can also behave like waves. The problem with measuring time using a particle of a matter is that it oscillates at a very high frequency. To overcome this, Holger split a cesium atom into two halves using laser. One half stay where it is and other go forward and come back resulting in a reduced oscillation. Now, the two halves didn't recombine perfectly, but scientists managed to measure the interference using which the researchers were able to deduce the original frequency of the atom.
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Currently, this clock is not as precise as atomic clocks, but it has got great potential. It can be also be helpful in measuring mass of a particle. According to Holger, in future they are trying to create clock based on zero particles, which will work on hypothetical possibility of a particle. The research has also one more interesting possibility of measuring time using antimatter.
via Simplest Clock Yet? Single Atom Tells Time | Live Science