Distortions glimpsed in atomic structure of materials Date: February 13, 2015 Source: North Carolina State University Summary: Researchers are using a technique they developed to observe minute ...

image: This image shows the atomic structure and electron distribution in the lanthanum strontium aluminum tantalum oxide (LSAT) crystal. view more . Credit: James LeBeau, North Carolina State ...

In another advance at the far frontiers of timekeeping by National Institute of Standards and Technology researchers, the latest modification of a record-setting strontium atomic clock has ...

Unfortunately, strontium atoms, of all things, react relatively strongly to changes in the ambient temperature; their atomic levels are then shifted energetically, which causes the clock to become ...

"Many recent atomic clocks, ours included, use an 'optical' transition, where the frequency of the oscillation is similar to the frequency of visible light," Aeppli explained.

It’s the creation of Alexander Aeppli, a graduate student researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder. For years, Aeppli has been tweaking to perfection an atomic clock that relies on ...

The strontium lattice clock sets new standards for precision and stability, only gaining or losing one second about every five billion years. Atomic clock performance can be measured by two key ...

An atomic clock that sets the time by the teensy oscillations of strontium atoms has gotten so precise and stable that it will neither gain nor lose a second for the next 15 billion years.