A brief history of time(keeping): atomic clocks at the precision frontier of fundamental physics

Abstract

Atomic clocks are the most precise instrucments ever constructed. The best atomic clocks today have a precision that corresponds to losing no more than a second over the lifetime of the universe. In this talk, I’ll discuss the role of atomic clocks at the forefront of fundamental physics, with a particular focus on dark matter, and how precision atomic physics allows us to extend the search for dark matter (and other exotic physics) to lower and lower masses. (Image credit: N. Hanacek, NIST)