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. ...

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 ...

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.

'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.

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 ...

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