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First Nuclear Clocks Kick Off a Precision Race

Physicists have reported the first working nuclear clocks, using an energy transition in the atomic nucleus rather than electron orbitals, marking a milestone after decades of attempts. Work on the thorium-229 transition, first driven with a laser in 2024, has opened a competition among labs to build clocks more stable than today's best atomic timekeepers. Researchers say nuclear clocks could probe whether fundamental constants of nature change over time, and labs worldwide are now racing to push the precision further.

Why now: The announcement of the first nuclear clocks at a major physics meeting represents a long-awaited breakthrough that could surpass existing atomic clocks in precision.

thorium-229 American Physical Society nuclear clocks physicists

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First Nuclear Clocks Kick Off a Precision Race · American Physical Society

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