Mainz 2026 – scientific programme

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AKjDPG: Arbeitskreis junge DPG

AKjDPG 4: Metrology

AKjDPG 4.1: Tutorial

Sunday, March 1, 2026, 16:00–16:45, C 03

Optical atomic clocks and applications — •Tanja Elisabeth Mehlstäubler — Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany — Leibniz Universität Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover, Germany

Time and frequency are the most precise measurable quantities in physics today. Optical atomic clocks have reached relative frequency uncertainties as low as 1e-18 inside laboratories and are used in fundamental and applied research. The dependence of the atomic frequencies on the gravitational potential makes atomic clocks ideal candidates for the search for deviations in the predictions of Einstein's general relativity, tests of modern unifying theories and the development of new sensors for gravity. I will introduce the concepts of atomic clocks and present the current status of international clock development and comparison. Further on, I will discuss the status of some fundamental tests of our standard model by means of high-precision spectroscopy and future applications of time and frequency metrology. Besides a continuous improvement in stability and accuracy of today's best clocks, a large effort is put into increasing the reliability and technological readiness for out of lab measurements with compact, portable devices. In the near future, optical clocks are foreseen to contribute together with satellite missions to the precise determination of the Earth's geoid with a height resolution on the cm-level.

Keywords: optical clocks; trapped ions; search for new physics; relativistic geodesy