AI Insight
Two independent research teams have successfully built the first working nuclear clocks using thorium-229 atoms. These devices keep time by exploiting the atomic nucleus rather than electron transitions like conventional atomic clocks, potentially achieving even greater precision than current state-of-the-art atomic clocks. The breakthrough was accomplished simultaneously by researchers at Tsinghua University in China and the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology in Austria.
Why it matters
Nuclear clocks could establish a new standard for timekeeping with unprecedented precision, which would benefit applications requiring extremely accurate time measurements such as GPS systems, telecommunications networks, and tests of fundamental physics. The enhanced stability of nuclear transitions compared to electronic transitions may enable detection of subtle physical phenomena and improvements in technologies dependent on precise time synchronization.
Two independent research teams have achieved a longstanding goal in physics: building a working nuclear clock. The devices, developed by Beichen Huang and colleagues at Tsinghua University and by Luca Toscani De Col and colleagues at the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology in Austria, exploit the nucleus of a thorium-229 atom to keep time with extraordinary precision—possibly surpassing even the best atomic clocks available today.