And things just keep getting smaller and smaller - Atomic Clock
From The National Institute of Standards and Technology's
Tech Beat for November 5, 2013:
NIST�s New Compact Atomic Clock Design Uses Cold Atoms to Boost Precision
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a compact atomic clock design that relies on cold rubidium atoms instead of the usual hot atoms, a switch that promises improved precision and stability.
Described in a new paper, the heart of the prototype clock (the vacuum chamber containing the atoms) is about the size of a coffee mug, 150 cubic centimeters, set in a small table of lasers and electronics. This is about 10 times larger than NIST's chip-scale atomic clock packages�for now. But when miniaturized and improved, NIST's new clock design has the potential to be about the same size and 1,000 times more precise and stable than chip-scale atomic clocks over crucial timespans of a day or more.
By achieving this goal, the cold-atom clock could also match the performance of commercial cesium-beam atomic clocks, common laboratory instruments, but in a smaller package.
"We're trying to push ultraportable clocks to higher performance levels," NIST physicist Elizabeth Donley says. "The aim is to make a clock that does not even need calibration."
And in ten years, when these hit the surplus market, we will be able to buy some amazing clocks for pennies on the dollar.
Posted by DaveH at November 5, 2013 7:00 PM