An optical lattice clock is a type of atomic clock that can be 100 times more accurate than cesium atomic clocks, the current standard for defining "seconds." Its precision is equivalent to an ...

And that’s the same technology— strontium atoms in a magic-wavelength optical lattice— used in the two new papers that prompted this post.

An optical lattice, created by interference between two coherent laser beams travelling in opposite directions, is a standing wave with a periodic pattern of dark and bright stripes. By inducing ...

Optical lattices have also been used to investigate various intriguing aspects of 1D quantum gases. The dimensionality of a macroscopic quantum system can have a large impact on its physical behaviour ...

Optical lattice clocks could help scientists detect gravitational waves, hunt for dark matter and much more.

Two further optical and one microwave clock systems of PTB participated in the comparisons: a single-ion ytterbium clock, a strontium lattice clock, and a cesium fountain clock.

Such optical lattices could also be used to gain insight into some high-temperature superconductors, which are known to have magnetic properties related to superexchange. These materials consist of ...

We typically use “red-detuned” optical lattices, which means the laser light in the lattice has a wavelength that’s longer than the wavelength of the resonant light.

Optical lattice clocks could help detect gravitational waves as well, alerting researchers to tiny time variations induced by these space-time ripples.