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Timekeepers of the future

Nature Physics volume 10, pages 82–83 (2014)Cite this article

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The latest generation of optical atomic clocks has reached such a degree of accuracy that questions about the need to redefine the second are raised. But even without such a redefinition, these breakthroughs will enable unprecedented precision tests of fundamental physics.

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Figure 1: The fractional uncertainty of atomic clocks has improved dramatically in the past decade.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by the UK National Measurement System and the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP). The EMRP is jointly funded by the EMRP participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union.

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  1. Helen Margolis is at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0LW, UK,

    Helen Margolis

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  1. Helen Margolis
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Correspondence to Helen Margolis.

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Margolis, H. Timekeepers of the future. Nature Phys 10, 82–83 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2834

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