China's New Atomic Clock Is More Than Just Ultra-Precise One of the key reasons smartwatches are making traditional watches obsolete is their accuracy, as they constantly synchronize with atomic clocks. Currently deployed atomic clocks using cesium atoms to absorb microwaves can measure time accurately to within one second over a 300-million-year period. However, recently announced discoveries by Chinese scientists may make that level of precision obsolete. The Chinese scientists are using atomic clock technology that is able to run for 30 billion years with only one second of deviation. This means the Chinese technology could run 100 times longer than the technology using cesium atoms while matching its accuracy. Considering the universe is estimated to be 13.8 billion years old, the Chinese technology's expected accuracy is beyond impressive. Creating precise timekeeping is a complicated process that has relied on atomic clocks since the 1960s, technology that measures the quantum characteristics of the nuclei of atoms. The researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China are pushing the precision of timekeeping forward by creating a device that uses 19 decimal places to accurately measure fractions of a second. They're using a device called a strontium optical lattice clock to measure time, which many researchers believe represents the best path forward for the next major step in accurate time measurement. The technology uses lasers to create a lattice that traps strontium atoms in a vacuum while cooling them to a temperature near absolute zero. How the ultra-precise atomic clock could redefine a second The Chinese technology, which was detailed in a paper published in Metrologia, uses the same basic principles as other optical clocks by measuring the amount of light emitted as electrons transition from one state of energy to another, but it uses strontium atoms and lasers. The researchers