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NIST unveils tiny new chip for atomic clocks

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Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and partners have demonstrated an experimental, next-generation atomic clock – ticking at high “optical” frequencies – that is much smaller than usual, made of just three small chips plus supporting electronics and optics.

As can be seen from the main picture, it’s smaller than a coffee bean.

Described in Optica, the chip-scale clock is based on the vibrations, or “ticks”, of rubidium atoms confined in a tiny glass container, called a vapor cell, on a chip.

Two frequency combs on chips act like gears to link the atoms’ high-frequency optical ticks to a lower, widely used microwave frequency that can be used in applications. [Read more…] about NIST unveils tiny new chip for atomic clocks

Scientists create new form of matter, a time crystal

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time crystal

Salt, snowflakes and diamonds are all crystals, meaning their atoms are arranged in 3-D patterns that repeat. Today scientists are reporting in the journal Nature on the creation of a phase of matter, dubbed a time crystal, in which atoms move in a pattern that repeats in time rather than in space.

The atoms in a time crystal never settle down into what’s known as thermal equilibrium, a state in which they all have the same amount of heat. It’s one of the first examples of a broad new class of matter, called nonequilibrium phases, that have been predicted but until now have remained out of reach. Like explorers stepping onto an uncharted continent, physicists are eager to explore this exotic new realm.

“This opens the door to a whole new world of nonequilibrium phases,” says Andrew Potter, an assistant professor of physics at The University of Texas at Austin. “We’ve taken these theoretical ideas that we’ve been poking around for the last couple of years and actually built it in the laboratory. Hopefully, this is just the first example of these, with many more to come.” [Read more…] about Scientists create new form of matter, a time crystal

UCLA physicists map the atomic structure of an alloy

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nanoparticles

Researchers measured the coordinates of more than 23,000 atoms in a technologically important material.

The results demonstrate that the positions of tens of thousands of atoms can be precisely identified and then fed into quantum mechanics calculations to correlate imperfections and defects with material properties at the single-atom level.

This research will be published February 2 in the journal Nature. [Read more…] about UCLA physicists map the atomic structure of an alloy