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Atomic clock signals may be best shared by fiber-optics

Time and frequency information can be transferred between laboratories or to other users in several ways, often using the Global Positioning System (GPS). But today's best atomic clocks are so accurate—neither gaining nor losing one second in as long as 400 million years—that more stable methods are needed. The best solution may be to use lasers to transfer data over fiber-optic cables, according to scientists at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder.