美国国家标准与技术研究院(NIST)的物理学家展示了一种小巧的原子钟设计,使用的是冷铷原子,而不是惯常使用的热原子,这一改变预计会提高准确度和稳定性。一篇新发表的论文介绍,这种原子钟样机的核心(含有原子的真空室)大约是一个咖啡杯大小,体积为150立方厘米,安装在一个小的激光和电子框中。这个原子钟目前要比NIST的芯片级原子钟套装大 Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) demonstrated a compact atomic clock design that uses cold rubidium atoms instead of the hot atoms commonly used, a change that is expected to improve accuracy and stability. According to a newly published paper, the core of this atomic clock prototype (the vacuum chamber containing atoms) is about the size of a coffee cup with a volume of 150 cubic centimeters and is housed in a small laser and electronic box. This atomic clock is currently larger than the NIST chip-scale atomic clock package