From left to right, Adam Kaufman, Nelson Darkwah Oppong, Alec Cao and Theo Lukin Yelin inspect an optical atomic clock at JILA on the CU Boulder campus. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder) Imagine ...
Most clocks, from wristwatches to the systems that run GPS and the internet, work by tracking regular, repeating motions. To build a clock, you need something that ticks in a perfectly repeatable way.