optical atomic clocks

2 posts

Clocks on the cusp of a nuclear age

7 min read
Scicomm Science caesium standard calcium fluoride fine structure constant frequency comb Indian Standard Time ISOLDE lithium strontium hexafluoroaluminate metastability nuclear clock nuclear isomer nuclear physics optical atomic clocks Planck equation strong interaction parameter strong nuclear force thorium-229 thorium-229m vacuum ultraviolet

You need three things to build a clock: an energy source, a resonator, and a counter. In an analog wrist watch, for example, a small battery is the energy source that sends a small electric signal to…

The clocks that used atoms and black holes to stay in sync

11 min read
Scicomm atomic clocks caesium standard caesium-133 Event Horizon Telescope frequency comb hydrogen maser International Celestial Reference Frame Kashima Koganei Medicine microwave clocks Milky Way optical atomic clocks quasars radio telescopes SI units strontium clock uncertainty Very-Long Baseline Interferometry VLBI ytterbium clock

You're familiar with clocks. There's probably one if you look up just a little, at the upper corner of your laptop or smartphone screen, showing you what time of day it is, allowing you to qui…