Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Preparing an Isotopically Pure 229Th Ion Beam for Studies of 229mTh
10:42

Preparing an Isotopically Pure 229Th Ion Beam for Studies of 229mTh

Published on: May 3, 2019

Atomic Clock Frequency Ratios with Fractional Uncertainty ≤3.2×10^{-18}

Alexander Aeppli1,2, Willa J Arthur-Dworschack2,3, Kyle Beloy3

  • 1the University of Colorado, National Institute of Standards and Technology, JILA, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

Physical Review Letters
|July 31, 2026
PubMed

More Related Videos

Implementation of a Reference Interferometer for Nanodetection16:11

Implementation of a Reference Interferometer for Nanodetection

Published on: April 26, 2014

Characterizing Far-infrared Laser Emissions and the Measurement of Their Frequencies09:38

Characterizing Far-infrared Laser Emissions and the Measurement of Their Frequencies

Published on: December 18, 2015

Related Concept Videos

Uncertainty in Measurement: Reading Instruments02:46

Uncertainty in Measurement: Reading Instruments

Counting is the type of measurement that is free from uncertainty, provided the number of objects being counted does not change during the process. Such measurements result in exact numbers. By counting the eggs in a carton, for instance, one can determine exactly how many eggs are there in the carton. Similarly, the numbers of defined quantities are also exact. For example, 1 foot is exactly 12 inches, 1 inch is exactly 2.54 centimeters, and 1 gram is exactly 0.001 kilograms. Quantities...
Atomic Nuclei: Larmor Precession Frequency01:11

Atomic Nuclei: Larmor Precession Frequency

The earth's gravitational field produces a 'twisting force' perpendicular to the angular momentum of a spinning mass (such as a spinning top) that causes the mass to 'wobble' around the gravitational field axis in a phenomenon called precession. Similarly, the magnetic moment (μ) of a spinning nucleus precesses due to an external magnetic field directed along the z-axis. The precession of the magnetic moment vector about the magnetic field is called Larmor precession, and the angular frequency...
Propagation of Uncertainty from Systematic Error01:10

Propagation of Uncertainty from Systematic Error

The atomic mass of an element varies due to the relative ratio of its isotopes. A sample's relative proportion of oxygen isotopes influences its average atomic mass. For instance, if we were to measure the atomic mass of oxygen from a sample, the mass would be a weighted average of the isotopic masses of oxygen in that sample. Since a single sample is not likely to perfectly reflect the true atomic mass of oxygen for all the molecules of oxygen on Earth, the mass we obtain from this particular...
Uncertainty in Measurement: Significant Figures03:34

Uncertainty in Measurement: Significant Figures

All the digits in a measurement, including the uncertain last digit, are called significant figures or significant digits. Note that zero may be a measured value; for example, if a scale that shows weight to the nearest pound reads “140,” then the 1 (hundreds), 4 (tens), and 0 (ones) are all significant (measured) values.
The Uncertainty Principle04:08

The Uncertainty Principle

Werner Heisenberg considered the limits of how accurately one can measure properties of an electron or other microscopic particles. He determined that there is a fundamental limit to how accurately one can measure both a particle’s position and its momentum simultaneously. The more accurate the measurement of the momentum of a particle is known, the less accurate the position at that time is known and vice versa. This is what is now called the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. He mathematically...
Propagation of Uncertainty from Random Error00:59

Propagation of Uncertainty from Random Error

An experiment often consists of more than a single step. In this case, measurements at each step give rise to uncertainty. Because the measurements occur in successive steps, the uncertainty in one step necessarily contributes to that in the subsequent step. As we perform statistical analysis on these types of experiments, we must learn to account for the propagation of uncertainty from one step to the next. The propagation of uncertainty depends on the type of arithmetic operation performed on...