Physicists are quietly rewriting one of the most basic units in science, using a new generation of optical clocks that can keep time so precisely they barely lose a beat over the age of the universe.

In a perspective article recurrently published in the National Science Review, Dr Xin Tong (Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and his ...

Optical clocks are highly precise timekeeping devices that measure time by tracking the oscillations of light, as opposed to microwaves, like conventional atomic clocks. The accuracy of these clocks ...

Atomic clocks have long been the gold standard for measuring time and frequency. Among them, optical clocks—using atoms like strontium or aluminum—have reached staggering levels of accuracy, with ...

A compact optical lattice clock with a volume of 250 liters has been developed. The system includes a physics package for conducting spectroscopy on the clock transition within a vacuum chamber, ...

The field of optical atomic clocks, in combination with ultracold atoms, has transformed precision timekeeping and metrology. By utilising laser-cooled atoms confined in optical lattices, researchers ...

Atomic clocks record time using microwaves at a frequency matched to electron transitions in certain atoms. They are the basis upon which a second is defined. But there is a new kid on the block, the ...

Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces from Imperial College London.View full profile Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. MIT and Harvard scientists have built the world’s most precise optical clock, surpassing the quantum limit with entangled atoms ...

Inside a laboratory nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, amid a labyrinth of lenses, mirrors, and other optical machinery bolted to a vibration-resistant table, an apparatus resembling a ...

There are significantly different architectures for what are known as “atomic” clocks. Optically driven atomic clocks offer a new set of performance attributes. The optical atomic clocks use paired ...