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.

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

Time triangle: illustration of how the ytterbium (Yb), strontium (Sr) and aluminium-magnesium (Al+/Mg+) atomic clocks were connected. (Courtesy: N Hanacek/NIST) The time kept by three of the world’s ...

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 countries.

A European collaboration has used one of the world's portable optical atomic clocks to measure gravitation for the first time. A European collaboration involving clock experts from the National ...

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 ...

Researchers from six countries conducted the largest coordinated comparison of optical clocks to date. The measurements amount to the largest coordinated comparison of optical clocks to date, and ...

Researchers have measured an optical clock's ticking with record-breaking accuracy while also showing the clock can be operated with unprecedented consistency. These achievements represent 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 ...

Invented 50 years ago this month, atomic clocks have revolutionized how we measure time. But optical clocks, which use light rather than microwaves, promise to be even more accurate and could lead to ...

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 ...