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Measurement of Time Increases in Accuracy
01 May 2005
On 3 June the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is marking the 50th anniversary of the atomic clock, which was invented at the NPL by Dr Louis Essen. In global, knowledge-driven markets, competitiveness depends upon solving measurement problems.
The best atomic clocks today lose just one ten billionth of a second a day.
However, in November 2004, an NPL research team led by Prof Patrick Gill measured an optical frequency transition of a single strontium ion. It was three times more accurate than any previous attempt, thus paving the way for an optical atomic clock.
NPL today is the UK's home of time and a contributor to the international time system. NPL maintains world-class metrology facilities and offers calibration services with the highest available accuracy.
www.npl.co.uk
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