[Triumf-seminars] TRIUMF Seminar today at 14:00

[postmaster@admin.triumf.ca]

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Date/Time: Thu 2006-08-03 at 14:00

Location:  Auditorium          

Speaker:   John Kitching (NIST)

Title:     Small Time: An Atomic Clock on a Microchip

Abstract: For over fifty years, clocks based on the electromagnetic oscillations of atoms have provided the most precise way of measuring time intervals longer than a few seconds. In the world of today, atomic clocks are used in a variety of critical applications from the global positioning system (GPS) to wireless communications. Recently, our team at NIST demonstrated the first atomic clock based on fabrication techniques commonly used in microelectronics and micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS); these techniques allow for unprecedented reductions in clock size and, correspondingly, in operating power. The devices we are building are the size of a grain of rice, could run on a AA battery and yet keep time to within ten microseconds over one day. In addition, wafer-level processing could allow thousands of atomic clocks to be fabricated with a single process sequence, dramatically reducing manufacturing cost. These advances pave the way for the application of atomically precise timing in portable, battery operated systems such as GPS receivers and wireless communication devices.


Stimulants available 15 minutes before the talk.

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Subscription information available at http://admin.triumf.ca/netdata/seminars/list


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