Time is almost up on the way we track each second of the day, with optical atomic clocks set to redefine the way the world ...

Atomic clocks use quantum physics and the resonant frequency of atoms, like cesium, to define time. Modern timekeeping relies on the accuracy of atomic clocks, which revolutionized timekeeping by ...

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 ...

Scientists have developed one of the most precise atomic clocks ever built, and they plan to use it as a reference clock to define time itself. Based on the rising and falling of cesium atoms under a ...

Atomic clocks that excite the nucleus of thorium-229 embedded in a transparent crystal when hit by a laser beam could yield the most accurate measurements ever of time and gravity, and even rewrite ...

For decades, atomic clocks have provided the most stable means of timekeeping. They measure time by oscillating in step with the resonant frequency of atoms, a method so accurate that it serves as the ...

The European Space Agency’s ACES mission could ultimately pave the way for a global network of atomic clocks that make these measurements far more accurate. In 2003, engineers from Germany and ...

This has now paved the way for a multi-ion optical ytterbium clock that combines the high accuracy of single-ion clocks with ...