Insulators are materials in which electrons cannot move freely. Past theoretical studies predicted the existence of an unusual insulating state dubbed obstructed atomic insulator (OAI), in which ...

For decades, atomic clocks have been the pinnacle of precision timekeeping, enabling GPS navigation, cutting-edge physics research, and tests of fundamental theories. But researchers are now pushing ...

Researchers have demonstrated a new optical atomic clock that uses a single laser and doesn't require cryogenic temperatures. By greatly reducing the size and complexity of atomic clocks without ...

Nuclear effect The deformed shape of the ytterbium-173 nucleus (right) makes it possible to excite the clock transition with a relatively low-power laser. The same transition is forbidden (left) if ...

(Nanowerk News) Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have created the first-ever atomic movies showing how atoms rearrange locally within a quantum material as it transitions from an insulator ...

A thorium-doped calcium fluoride crystal's temperature is continually monitored while a VUV frequency comb is used to directly resolve individual quantum states of the nuclear transition. For decades, ...