What makes it the preferred means of measuring time? And I guess, really, how do atomic clocks work?
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In very general terms, to build an atomic oscillator you want to prioritize a few things.
– You want it to be a gas, to avoid quantum mechanical effects that appear in solid states.
– You want it to be cold, so that the thermal energy of the atoms in motion doesn’t throw anything off.
– You want it to have as few stable isotopes as possible, so that it’s not a mix that could generate different frequencies.
– You want a specific nuclear configuration, specifically having as few electrons as possible in the outermost shell. This maximizes the oscillation that you’re trying to detect.
When taken together cesium is the best choice. It has a single stable isotope; it can be vaporized at extremely low temperatures; and it has just one electron in its outermost shell. It’s also no coincidence that other common elements for clocks are rubidium and strontium; they’re right above cesium on the periodic table and would share a number of characteristics.
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