Size and shape Most digital atomic clocks are rectangular or square in a roughly 1-foot x 1-foot size, give or take an inch. Some can be smaller, and others can be much wider with less height.

Size and shape Most digital atomic clocks are rectangular or square in a roughly 1-foot x 1-foot size, give or take an inch. Some can be smaller, and others can be much wider with less height.

Size and shape Most digital atomic clocks are rectangular or square in a roughly 1-foot x 1-foot size, give or take an inch. Some can be smaller, and others can be much wider with less height.

Size and shape Most digital atomic clocks are rectangular or square in a roughly 1-foot x 1-foot size, give or take an inch. Some can be smaller, and others can be much wider with less height.

Size and shape Most digital atomic clocks are rectangular or square in a roughly 1-foot x 1-foot size, give or take an inch. Some can be smaller, and others can be much wider with less height.

Size and shape Most digital atomic clocks are rectangular or square in a roughly 1-foot x 1-foot size, give or take an inch. Some can be smaller, and others can be much wider with less height.

Size and shape Most digital atomic clocks are rectangular or square in a roughly 1-foot x 1-foot size, give or take an inch. Some can be smaller, and others can be much wider with less height.

It packs strontium atoms — used for carrying out the time measurement — into a tiny three-dimensional cube at 1,000 times the density of previous one-dimensional atomic clocks.

The internal ‘ticking’ of these clocks happens at a much, much higher frequency than most atomic clocks. A traditional system might have a ticking rate that’s more like a billion times a second.