Presentation by: Professor Kurt Gibble, Department of Physics at Penn State. 

Atomic clocks realize the most accurate measurements of any physical observable, determining the frequencies of atomic transitions to a part in 10¹⁸. They exploit the high-coherence central to atomic physics that underlies many applications, from clocks and atom interferometry to quantum information processing. I will describe how atomic clocks tick and discuss several general interest physics aspects of modern microwave and optical frequency atomic clocks. These include quantum mechanical collisions at microKelvin temperatures, frequency shifts due to microwave photon recoils, laser-cooling of cadmium for optical lattice clocks, tests of Beyond Standard Model physics using isotope shifts, and tests of general relativity with orbiting atomic clocks.

Learn more about this event on the Physics website.