JILA atomic clock mimics long-sought synthetic magnetic state

Using their advanced atomic clock to mimic other desirable quantum systems, JILA physicists have caused atoms in a gas to behave as if they possess unusual magnetic properties long sought in harder-to-study solid materials. ...

Japan clocks keep time for 16 billion years

Japanese researchers have built a pair of clocks which they say are so accurate they will lose a second only every 16 billion years—longer than the Earth has been around.

A tool for measuring atomic properties at the quantum limit

Performing high-resolution, high-sensitivity measurements of light and matter at the quantum limit requires extraordinary tools. Due to the difficulties of manipulating atoms with the necessary control, such measurements ...

NIST ytterbium atomic clocks set record for stability

A pair of experimental atomic clocks based on ytterbium atoms at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has set a new record for stability. The clocks act like 21st-century pendulums or metronomes that ...

'Optical clock' yields split-second success

Physicists said Tuesday that a so-called optical lattice clock, touted by some as the time-measuring device of the future, had passed a key accuracy test.

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