This makes it possible for two mirrors with light between them to register their oscillations. "In traditional atomic clocks, the detection heats up the atoms, requiring atoms to be freshly loaded ...

They trapped thousands of strontium atoms vertically in grids of laser light. Atomic clocks rely on the steady frequency at ...

Scientists have designed a new atomic clock, using laser light and ytterbium atoms, that is ten times more stable than previously reported clocks. Ytterbium atoms are generated in an oven (large ...

Next, researchers examined timing data from microwave atomic clocks aboard GPS satellites ... on electron-mass variations ...

When atomic clocks first appeared in the 1960s, they defined the second based on the properties of cesium atoms, which absorb and emit light at a reliable frequency. These cesium-based atomic ...

The length of a second hasn't been updated in 70 years. That may change soon. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The ...

Atomic clocks base their timekeeping on measuring the exact vibrations of individual atoms to designate a single second. To do this, a high-powered laser light is trained on an atom of cesium-133 ...

But better atomic clocks are here, and they’re good for ... Their operators can control the atoms using a laser that emits visible light. Hence, they’re called “optical clocks.” ...

Up front: Atomic clocks have been in popular use since the ... With the optical technique, the researchers are essentially measuring light-emitting atomic transitions as opposed to those that ...

Since the 1960s, the second has been defined by atomic clocks made of cesium atoms, which absorb and emit light at a particular frequency that determines the length of a second. But “there have ...

"Atomic clocks bring cosmology and astrophysics down to Earth, enabling searches for ultra-light particles that could explain dark matter in a laboratory," Calmet said. Atomic clocks measure time ...

Unlike atomic clocks, this new type of timekeeper probes electron transitions with light. “Because visible light has a frequency that is five orders of magnitude higher than microwaves ...