In a new study, researchers carried out the most extensive coordinated comparison of optical clocks to date by operating ...

In an optical atomic clock, atoms are irradiated by ... systems of PTB participated in the comparisons: a single-ion ytterbium clock, a strontium lattice clock, and a cesium fountain clock.

At the heart of this change is a new kind of atomic clock that uses light ... one indium ion that acts as the "clock" and three ytterbium ions that cool it down. These ions interact to form ...

Every clock in your house probably tells a slightly different time. Now picture those clocks as the most precise instruments humanity has ever built, so accurate that they wouldn't lose or gain a ...

Scientists have taken a major step toward the ambitious global goal of “redefining the second” by the end of this decade. A ...

Today’s most accurate clocks rely on optically trapped ensembles of atoms or ions, such as strontium or ytterbium ... affect clock accuracy. Such a nuclear transition probes fundamental particles and ...

If scientists choose to redefine the second, they must decide not only which clock to use but also which atomic transition: that of strontium atoms or ytterbium or aluminum ions—or something else.

A new atomic clock is one of the world’s best timekeepers, researchers say — and after years of development, the “fountain”-style clock is now in use helping keep official U.S. time.

The next generation of atomic clocks “ticks” at the frequency of a ... two other optical clocks and one microwave clock from PTB were included: an ytterbium single ion clock, a strontium lattice clock ...