  Since the pioneering work of Ramsey, atom interferometers are employed for
precision metrology, in particular to measure time and to realize the second.
In a classical interferometer, an ensemble of atoms is prepared in one of the
two input states, whereas the second one is left empty. In this case, the
vacuum noise restricts the precision of the interferometer to the standard
quantum limit (SQL). Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel
clock configuration that surpasses the SQL by squeezing the vacuum in the empty
input state. We create a squeezed vacuum state containing an average of 0.75
atoms to improve the clock sensitivity of 10,000 atoms by 2.05 dB. The SQL
poses a significant limitation for today's microwave fountain clocks, which
serve as the main time reference. We evaluate the major technical limitations
and challenges for devising a next generation of fountain clocks based on
atomic squeezed vacuum.
