Turning back the clock nearly 350 years may help engineers design higher-bandwidth wireless computers and faster switches for fiber-optic networks. Georgia Institute of Technology physicists Kurt Wiesenfeld, Michael Schatz, and Matthew Bennett created these two spring-powered pendulum clocks to study a phenomenon known as "synchronized oscillation," in which one timepiece ticks when the other tocks, regardless of when each was set. Their work is based on the 1665 experiments by Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens. Synchronized oscillation is the key to making an array of electronic components, such as lasers, that operate independently yet simultaneously to provide a greater combined output of power. "Studying nonlinear physics is a relatively abstract endeavor," Wiesenfeld says. "So it's nice to have a good mechanical example."
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