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Lattice trap improves optical clocks Researchers in Japan have demonstrated a way to trap neutral atoms that could herald a new era in timekeeping. The team believes that an optical clock based on strontium atoms trapped in an optical lattice could lead to clocks that are accurate to one part in 1018 (Nature 435 321).
The gold standard in timekeeping is currently the caesium-133 atomic clock, which is accurate to 1 part in 1015 and is used to define the second.
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