A team at JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado, has developed a new strontium atomic clock that sets a new record for accuracy among neutral atom-based clocks. The clock, which uses thousands of strontium atoms trapped in laser light grids, is now the world’s most accurate neutral atom clock, surpassing the NIST-F1 cesium clock by more than double in accuracy. The strontium clock would neither gain nor lose a second in over 200 million years, compared to the NIST F-1’s current accuracy of over 80 million years.
The strontium clock uses light with higher frequencies than the microwaves in the NIST-F1 clock, allowing it to measure time in smaller increments and achieve greater accuracy. While laboratories around the world are developing various optical clocks, it remains to be seen which design will become the next international standard. As research continues, even more accurate clocks are likely to be developed, pushing the boundaries of time measurement and standardization.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2008/02/new-strontium-atomic-clock-jila-best-class
Keywords: Strontium, Atomic Clock, Optical, Precision, Standardization
