IDG Contributor Network: All of our clocks are wrong
The gold-standard for time measurement—the 500 or so atomic clocks in use—might be on its way out. The clocks' days, if not their hours or seconds, are numbered.
Optical clocks are a better way to measure time, say researchers who published their findings in Optica, the Optical Society's journal. The scientists say the optical technology is more accurate than the previous best-tech, which uses microwave frequency atomic oscillations.
“Clocks work by counting a recurrent event with a known frequency, such as the swinging of a pendulum,” the society explains in a press release. Atomic clocks use the natural movement of a cesium atom.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here