The first prototype Nuclear Clock

[John Clark]

Concerning Yesterday's issue of the journal Nature: 

“With this first prototype, we have proven: Thorium can be used as a timekeeper for ultra-high-precision measurements,” says Thorsten Schumm, an author of the study. “All that is left to do is technical development work, with no more major obstacles to be expected.” The researchers predict that the nuclear clock should surpass the precision of atomic clocks in two to three years, and should also be more portable and stable. If they take over the role, we could be in for much faster and more reliable communications, internet, GPS, and other technologies. They could even help scientists probe the fundamentals of physics and aid things like the search for Dark Matter, determining if the fundamental "constants" of nature are really constant, and in the detection of gravitational waves.

Progress on nuclear clocks

John K Clark    See what's on my new list at  Extropolis

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