TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES 1997 - NISTIR 6104

MISSION

The mission of the Time and Frequency Division is to support U.S. industry and science by providing measurement services and research in time and frequency and related technology. To fulfill this mission the Division engages in:

• development and operation of standards of time and frequency and coordination of them with other world standards;

• development of optical frequency standards supporting wavelength and length metrology;

• provision of time and frequency services to the United States; and

• basic and applied research in support of future standards, dissemination services, and measurement methods.

The work supporting length metrology derives from the definitional dependence of the meter on the second. This Division work contributes to a larger program in the Precision Engineering Division (MEL), which has primary responsibility for length and its dissemination.

ORGANIZATION

The Division is organized into eight technical Groups: Time & Frequency Services, Time Scale & Coordination, Cesium Standards, Ion Storage, Phase Noise Measurements, Laser Spectroscopy, Optical Frequency Measurements, and Network Timing. The Groups are necessarily small, and the Group Leaders are thus able to function primarily as technical leaders within their areas. The unifying theme of time-and-frequency technology requires strong interactions among the Groups. During 1995 and 1996, the Division hosted 44 guest researchers and 12 postdocs.