One tick closer to a nuclear clock

Burke, Jason T.

doi:10.1038/d41586-019-02664-8

NEWS AND VIEWS
11 September 2019

One tick closer to a nuclear clock

Clocks that are based on the nucleus of a single thorium atom could be more precise than existing timekeepers. Such clocks have not yet been realized, but two experiments provide keys steps towards this goal.

Jason T. Burke ⁰

Jason T. Burke
1. Jason T. Burke is in the Nuclear and Particle Physics Group, Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division, Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
View author publications

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Access through your institution

Buy or subscribe

Atomic clocks are currently the gold standard of timekeeping. These devices measure time on the basis of transitions between two states of an atom. In two papers in Nature, Masuda et al.¹ and Seiferle et al.² report progress towards a clock that instead uses transitions between two states of an atomic nucleus. Such a nuclear clock could outperform existing atomic timekeepers, and have applications in both fundamental and applied physics.

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Nature 573, 202-203 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02664-8

References

Masuda, T. et al. Nature 573, 238–242 (2019).
Article Google Scholar
Seiferle, B. et al. Nature 573, 243–246 (2019).
Article Google Scholar
Lyons, H. Instruments 22, 133–135 (1949).
Google Scholar
Brewer, S. M. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 033201 (2019).
PubMed Article Google Scholar
Campbell, C. J. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 120802 (2012).
PubMed Article Google Scholar
Peik, E. & Tamm, C. Europhys. Lett. 61, 181–186 (2003).
Article Google Scholar
Beck, B. R. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 142501 (2007).
PubMed Article Google Scholar
Derevianko, A. & Pospelov, M. Nature Phys. 10, 933–936 (2014).
Article Google Scholar
Flambaum, V. V. Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 092502 (2006).
PubMed Article Google Scholar