Vienna team builds first self-stabilizing nuclear clock using thorium

· Science · Austria

Scientists in Vienna have created the world's first self-stabilizing nuclear clock, a timekeeping device that uses the tiny nuclei of thorium atoms instead of the electrons used in conventional atomic clocks. According to the report, the nuclei are far less sensitive to external disturbances, which could eventually let the nuclear clock surpass even the most precise atomic clocks now in use. The achievement is described as a major breakthrough in timekeeping. Nuclear clocks have long been pursued because their much higher transition frequency promises better stability and precision, but controlling the nuclear transition had proved difficult; the self-stabilizing design is the step that makes the approach practical.

Why it matters：Timekeeping underpins navigation, telecommunications and fundamental physics tests; a working nuclear clock could reset the precision frontier and the supply and research agendas that depend on it.

Key points

  • The clock relies on thorium nuclei rather than electrons in atoms.
  • Nuclei are described as far less sensitive to external disturbance.
  • The design is self-stabilizing, a first for nuclear clocks.

Sources (original reporting)

More stories from this day