This book constitutes an essential addition to the first two volumes of The Quantum Physics of Atomic Frequency Standards (QAPAFS, 1989) written in the early 1980s, by C. Audoin and J. Vanier, the latter being also co-author of this work. QAPAFS has constituted and still constitutes THE reference for the so-called Time & Frequency community. However, the evolution and progress in the domain have been quite spectacular during the following 25 years (1990-2015). This third book, published in 2015, fills the gap and describes in a very comprehensive manner the more recent achievements: use of laser cooling and other advanced effects based the atom-laser interactions, use of optical combs, extreme miniaturization, emerging new fields of applications, fundamental investigations in physics and metrology, etc. The second edition of the book (2025) includes important additional annexes, offering an overview on the latest developments, that occurred during the last ten years and discussing the main perspectives and challenges for the future.
- Gaetano Mileti, Professor of Physics, University of Neuchātel, February 2025
This book is a successful attempt to cover the last thirty years of research in this amazing field of atomic frequency standards.
After a resume of the main microwave atomic clocks, the book dedicates an entire chapter to the physics that played a significant role in the development of the most recent atomic frequency standards, including laser optical pumping, coherent population trapping (CPT) and laser cooling. Then, new conception microwave clocks are described, with particular emphasis for atomic fountains, their implementations and performances. The CPT approach is also extensively discussed, both in a hot vapor cell as well as in a laser-cooled ensemble. The last chapter is dedicated to optical clocks that were only briefly mentioned in the historical volumes. The main different techniques of implementing an optical frequency standard are discussed, including single ions and neutral atom lattice clocks.
This second edition includes some useful annexes, specifically, the last one is a resume of the SI redefinition which turns out to be quite interest. Definitely, it also addresses not only graduate students, but it can be a useful reference also to researchers working in the field of frequency metrology.
- Salvatore Micalizio, Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRIM), February 2025