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Photon lights a path towards a nuclear clock

A long-sought photon that is emitted by the nucleus of a thorium isotope has now been observed. The feat is a key step in efforts to build a nuclear clock, a device that is precise enough to probe the Universe’s best-kept secrets.
  1. Adriana Pálffy

    1. Adriana Pálffy is at the Institute for Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.

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The most precise timekeepers today are atomic clocks, which measure time using the frequency associated with transitions that electrons make between the different energy levels of an atom. But atomic nuclei make similar transitions, and these jumps could potentially offer an even better way of keeping time. In particular, the nucleus of the isotope thorium-229 undergoes a transition with an energy and a frequency that make it uniquely suitable for very precise timekeeping. But observing this transition and identifying its energy precisely are difficult tasks. Writing in Nature, Kraemer et al.1 have detected the photon that is emitted in this transition, an advance that is crucial for the development of nuclear clocks.

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Nature 617, 678-679 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01631-8

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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