How Atomic Clocks Have Changed Our World
One of NIST’s ytterbium lattice atomic clocks: NIST physicists combined two of these experimental clocks to make the world’s most stable single atomic clock. The image is a stacked composite of about 10 photos in which an index card was positioned in front of the lasers to reveal the laser beam paths. Credit: N. Phillips/NIST
Time: We all have a sense of it, an innate feel for it. We see it and use it every day.