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What we do |
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Services
The division broadcasts standard time and frequency signals using radio, Internet, and telephone links. These signals synchronize millions of clocks every day. |
Standards
The division develops and maintains the primary standards for frequency and time interval in the United States.
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Comparisons
The division routinely participates in national and international comparisons of its standards using state-of-the-art techniques for time and frequency transfer.
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Metrology
The division maintains advanced measurement and calibration facilities for characterizing noise components in oscillators and frequency synthesizers.
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Research
The division's ongoing research programs are leading the way to the next generation of time and frequency standards and measurements.
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NIST Demonstrates Miniature Atomic Clock
NIST researchers have demonstrated a minuscule atomic clock with inner workings about the size of a grain of rice and potential applications in atomically precise timekeeping in portable, battery-powered devices for secure wireless communications, more precise navigation, and other applications. The "physics package" of the clock, believed to be the smallest in the world, is about 1.5 millimeters on a side and about 4 millimeters tall, consumes less than 75 thousandths of a watt, and has a stability of about one part in 10 billion, equivalent to a clock that would neither gain nor lose more than a second in 300 years.
NIST researchers are also demonstrating the potential to fabricate and assemble the physics package using the low-cost, mass-production techniques used to make semiconductor devices, which should eventually lead to a complete atomic clock about 1 cubic centimeter in size (about the size of a pencil eraser) powered by a battery. Such miniature atomic clocks are not intended to compete for accuracy and stability with the world’s most accurate atomic clocks such as the NIST-F1 cesium fountain atomic clock, but could make dramatic improvements in the many consumer and military electronic devices that rely on stable and accurate timing for wireless communications, navigation, and other applications. Please click here for more information.
The NIST chip-scale atomic clock program is supported by NIST and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Division 847
325 Broadway
Boulder, CO 80305
Web site comments and general technical questions: Michael Lombardi |
General NIST inquiries:
Public Inquiries Unit:
(301) 975-NIST (6478)
TTY (301) 975-8295 |
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