Like the teeth of a comb, a microcomb consists of a spectrum of evenly distributed light frequencies. Optical atomic clocks can be built by locking a microcomb tooth to a ultranarrow-linewidth laser, ...

For many years, cesium atomic clocks have been reliably keeping time around the world. But the future belongs to even more accurate clocks: optical atomic clocks. In a few years' time, they could ...

Researchers demonstrated a new optical atomic clock that uses a single laser and doesn't require cryogenic temperatures. By greatly reducing the size and complexity of atomic clocks without ...

At this point, atomic clocks are old news. They’ve been quietly keeping our world on schedule for decades now, and have been through several iterations with each generation gaining more accuracy. They ...

Optical lattice clocks are emerging timekeeping devices based on tens of thousands of ultracold atoms trapped in an optical lattice (i.e., a grid of laser light). By oscillating between two distinct ...

NIST scientists have published results establishing a new atomic clock, NIST-F4, as one of the world’s most accurate timekeepers, priming the clock to be recognized as a primary frequency standard — ...