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Optical lattice clocks

Keeping time in three dimensions

The demonstration of an optical clock in which individual atoms are confined in a three-dimensional optical lattice moves us closer to the atomic clockmaker's dream: tens of thousands of isolated atoms that work in parallel.

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Figure 1: Kept in isolation.

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Oates, C. Keeping time in three dimensions. Nature Phys 4, 910–911 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1146

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