Researchers develop first operational nuclear clocks using thorium nuclei

The short version

• Independent research teams in Vienna and Beijing have constructed the first operational nuclear clocks based on thorium-229 nuclear oscillations.[Hacker News · Slashdot]
• The new devices lose roughly one second over millions of years, though top atomic clocks remain about 10,000 times more reliable.[Hacker News · Slashdot]
• The technology will not immediately replace standard atomic clocks used for GPS and defining the second.[Hacker News · Slashdot]
• Scientists anticipate future models could offer greater portability, superior precision, and the capability to detect dark matter.[Hacker News · Slashdot]

Key facts

• Independent research groups in Vienna and Beijing built the first nuclear clocks by tracking oscillations of thorium-229 nuclei.[Hacker News · Slashdot]
• The findings were published in the scientific journal Nature.[Hacker News · Slashdot]
• The new thorium clocks are precise enough to lose approximately one second over millions of years.[Hacker News · Slashdot]
• Current state-of-the-art atomic clocks remain roughly 10,000 times more reliable, losing one second over more than 100 billion years.[Hacker News · Slashdot]
• The new clocks will not immediately displace the atomic clocks underpinning GPS networks and the formal definition of the second.[Hacker News · Slashdot]

Sources

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.

• In Vienna and Beijing, the first (thorium) nuclear clocks begin to tickHacker News
• First Thorium Nuclear Clocks Begin to TickSlashdot
• Scientists build a nuclear clock that could make atomic clocks obsoleteScienceDaily - Science