Scientists get a grip on colliding fermions to enhance atomic clock accuracy

Physicists have measured and controlled seemingly forbidden collisions between neutral strontium atoms - a class of antisocial atoms known as fermions that are not supposed to collide when in identical energy states. The advance makes possible a significant boost in the accuracy of atomic clocks based on hundreds or thousands of neutral atoms. Described in the 17 April issue of the journal Science, the research was performed at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder...

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