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.

For many years, cesium atomic clocks have been reliably keeping time around the world. But the future belongs to even more ...

The way time is measured is on the edge of a historic upgrade. At the heart of this change is a new kind of atomic clock that uses light instead of microwaves. This shift means timekeeping could ...

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 ...

WASHINGTON — In a new study, researchers carried out the most extensive coordinated comparison of optical clocks to date by operating clocks and the links connecting them simultaneously across six ...