Atomic clocks

Robert Wynands

pp. 363-418

in: Gonzalo Muga, Andreas Ruschhaupt, Adolfo del Campo (eds), Time in quantum mechanics II, Berlin, Springer, 2009

Abstract

Time is a strange thing. On the one hand it is arguably the most inaccessible physical phenomenon of all: both in that it is impossible to manipulate or modify—for all we know—and in that even after thousands of years mankind's philosophers still have not found a fully satisfying way to understand it. On the other hand, no other quantity can be measured with greater precision. Today's atomic clocks allow us to reproduce the length of the second as the SI unit of time with an uncertainty of a few parts in 10¹⁶—orders of magnitude better than any other quantity. In a sense, one can say [1]