James C. Bergquist, a physicist at NIST, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a prestigious honor for U.S. scientists. Bergquist is a leader in laser science and optical frequency standards, which are the basis for next-generation atomic clocks.
His experimental mercury ion clock is the world’s most precise timepiece, losing or gaining only 1 second over 2 billion years. Bergquist has made numerous breakthroughs in measurement science with applications in quantum information processing and other areas. He has worked at NIST Boulder Labs since 1978 and received many awards for his contributions to physics and laser science.
Keywords: Atomic clocks, Laser science, Optical frequency standards, Measurement science, Quantum information processing
