Can a Spinning Disc and Photon Technology Create a Femtosecond Clock?

In summary, this idea would require a lot of precision and accuracy in order to work effectively. The device would also be very difficult to maintain and operate due to the many complications that would arise from the various factors involved.
  • #1
Edward Solomo
72
1
Hi, I had an idea for creating a clock that could time femptoseconds, although it's possible that this design would most likely fail and only create some crazy diffraction patterns, but anyway, here was my idea (I also didnt' want to waste forum space anywhere else but General Discussion with this idea haha).

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Ok, so we start with a very flat torus and a very thin cross section, really just a disc with a hole in the middle, the inner radius would be 0.1591 meters, the outer radius will be 0.1592 meters. The inner circumference is exactly 1 meter, and the outer circumference is 1.0003 meters.

We divide the inner circumference into 10 nanometer segments, giving us a total of 100 million subdivisions, a division every 0.0000036 degrees; while also dividing the outer circumference into 100 million subdivisions.

Between each subdivision on the inner circumference, and the respective subdivision on the outer circumference, there would be a photon receptor, on the outer circumference, and a photonic CPU on the inner circumference, this CPU would be very simple, only processing how many times the photonic receptor was activated. It's very important that we are using technology that processes using photons. Each nano-CPU would be independent, except for being able to communicated to a "mother" processor how many times they've been activated, and being able to be told by the mother processor to delete their stored information.

Using the lowest energy X-rays, we can produce a continuous laser that is under 10 nanometers. We would then spin the disc, at 10 revolutions per second. At this rate we could accurately time nanoseconds, because the receptors would be individually activated by the X-ray laser 10 times per second.

Now if we speed this up to 10,000 revolutions per second, we can time picoseconds. The difficulty that confronts us this system is that it would not be feasible to increase the rate of revolution any more that it is currently going, as it's already spinning (on the edge) at 1/30,000 the speed of light.

One way around this problem would be to create a stack of 1,000 of these super thin discs, with each disc rotated 0.0000000036 degrees more than the one below it (1/1000 of 0.0000036). We would also need 1000 separate X ray lasers.

Now each receptor respective to the same numerical receptor on the disc below it, would be activating 1 femptosecond after the numerically respective receptor below. When the "event" ends, which would also have to be executed through photonic computing, the lasers will terminate instantly, and then you can compile the total time by taking a sum of all the activations of each receptor on each disk, the total sum being the number of femptoseconds.

Anyway, something tells me this idea wouldn't work at all. But it was a fun thought! Diffraction express!
 
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  • #2
Making precise clocks is all about managing uncertainties. With what precision can you put the photoreceptors? How finely can you focus the laser? What is the accuracy of the angular velocity of the disc? What is the noise in the photoreceptors? etc.

I think that you will find out that even one of those things will prevent you from reaching even microsecond accuracy with such a device.
 
  • #3
DrClaude said:
Making precise clocks is all about managing uncertainties. With what precision can you put the photoreceptors? How finely can you focus the laser? What is the accuracy of the angular velocity of the disc? What is the noise in the photoreceptors? etc.

I think that you will find out that even one of those things will prevent you from reaching even microsecond accuracy with such a device.

So basically even the tiniest bit of friction or sound wave vibrating the apparatus as a whole would ruin the idea.

I was thinking of using statistical elimination, so you could get a confidence interval, mean + standard deviation and other statistical methods to refine that measurement.
 
  • #4
Edward Solomo said:
So basically even the tiniest bit of friction or sound wave vibrating the apparatus as a whole would ruin the idea.

You would have to run this in a vacuum, otherwise the spinning disk would act as a centrifugal air pump which would require a lot of power to drive it, and generate a lot of heat!

Aside from the rotor balancing requirements to spin this at the speeds required, the rotordynamcs of this could get quite "interesting", considering the rim is moving a lot faster than the speed of sound in a typical metal.
 
  • #5
Edward Solomo said:
So basically even the tiniest bit of friction or sound wave vibrating the apparatus as a whole would ruin the idea.

I was thinking of using statistical elimination, so you could get a confidence interval, mean + standard deviation and other statistical methods to refine that measurement.


To do any kind of filtering on your femptosecond pulses you have to be able to measure how far apart you're receiving them, which requires a femptosecond clock to do...
 

FAQ: Can a Spinning Disc and Photon Technology Create a Femtosecond Clock?

What is a femtosecond clock?

A femtosecond clock is a type of ultrafast laser device that can measure time in increments as small as one femtosecond, which is equal to one quadrillionth of a second. This allows for extremely precise measurements of time and can be useful in a variety of scientific and industrial applications.

How does a femtosecond clock work?

A femtosecond clock works by emitting a laser beam that is split into two paths. One path is kept constant while the other is reflected off of the object being measured. The two paths are then recombined, creating an interference pattern that can be used to determine the exact time it took for the laser to travel to and from the object. By using a high-speed detector, the time can be measured in femtoseconds.

What are the benefits of using a femtosecond clock?

The main benefit of using a femtosecond clock is its unparalleled precision in measuring time. It can be used to study ultrafast processes in physics, chemistry, and biology, as well as in industrial applications such as laser machining and material processing. It can also help improve our understanding of fundamental concepts such as the speed of light and the structure of atoms.

What are the limitations of a femtosecond clock?

One limitation of a femtosecond clock is its high cost, as it requires advanced technology and specialized equipment. It also requires a stable environment, as any vibrations or fluctuations can affect the accuracy of the measurements. Additionally, the objects being measured need to be reflective, which can limit its applications in certain fields.

How is a femtosecond clock different from other types of clocks?

A femtosecond clock is different from other types of clocks in that it measures time in extremely small increments, allowing for high precision measurements. Traditional clocks, such as atomic clocks, measure time in larger increments (nanoseconds or microseconds) and are not as precise. Additionally, femtosecond clocks use lasers and interference patterns, while atomic clocks use the natural vibrations of atoms to keep time.

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