The quantum timekeeping of atomic clocks
APR 02, 2010
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.024212
Nature News : The ‘ticks’ of the current standard atomic clocks are marked by the regular vibrations of an ensemble of caesium atoms, which vibrate 9.2 billion times every second.However, noise inherent in the system means that there is a fundamental ‘classical limit’ to how accurately the clocks can measure those vibrations.Now two groups, one led by Markus Oberthaler at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and the other by Philipp Treutlein, then at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Germany, have shown that this classical limit can be breached using a quantum twist.
© 2010 American Institute of Physics
