thorium-229

Vienna, Beijing teams unveil world’s first nuclear clocks

Two research teams working separately in Vienna and Beijing have built the first two working nuclear clocks. Both use the isotope thorium-229, and both teams reported their results on Wednesday, Oct. 7, in papers in the journal Nature. Neither clock…

Two teams build first working nuclear clocks

After more than two decades of effort, two independent research groups have built the first functioning nuclear clocks — devices that keep time by measuring oscillations within an atomic nucleus rather than its surrounding electrons. The parallel breakthroughs, reported in…