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Time and Frequency Div. icon

TIME AND
FREQUENCY
DIVISION
(Boulder, CO)

Thomas R. O'Brian, Chief
Tel 303 497 3772
Fax 303 497 6461
The Time and Frequency Division is responsible for the standards of time and frequency. Since length is now derived from the second, the Division has an additional responsibility to develop optical frequency standards in support of programs in the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, Precision Engineering Division, which has the primary responsibility for length.

The Division's three primary functions are: developing and operating the standards of time and frequency and coordinating them with other world standards; providing time and frequency services to the United States; and undertaking basic and applied research in support of future standards, services, and measurement methods.

Major programs

  • Develop advanced atomic frequency standards for scientific and industrial applications

  • Provide frequency calibration services and time and frequency broadcast services

  • Establish efficient and accurate methods of time and frequency distribution

  • Test fundamental laws of physics using cooled, trapped ions

  • Characterize the spectral purity in systems and components for telecommunication, radar, and aerospace applications

  • Develop synchronization techniques for telecommunications networks and electrical-power-distribution systems

  • Develop methods for making measurements of optical frequencies

  • Provide stabilized, line-narrowed, diode-laser systems for measurement applications, including environmental monitoring, length measurement, and manipulation of atoms in atomic clocks

  • Develop high-resolution, infrared spectroscopic techniques for environmental monitoring and remote sensing of the upper atmosphere

Collaborations with industry

  • Noise characterization of telecommunication-synchronization systems

  • Ultrastable oscillators in the microwave region

  • Advanced time distribution using geostationary satellites

  • Microchip-scale atomic clocks

  • Secure time/date distribution to financial institutions
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Online: November 1994   -   Last update: July 2004