Atomic clocks that excite the nucleus of thorium-229 embedded in a transparent crystal when hit by a laser beam could yield the most accurate measurements ever of time and gravity, and even rewrite ...

For the first time, scientists used an atomic nucleus as a clock. The world’s most precise timepieces are made using atoms, specifically their electrons. But clocks based on atomic nuclei — protons ...

Researchers demonstrated a new optical atomic clock that uses a single laser and doesn't require cryogenic temperatures. By greatly reducing the size and complexity of atomic clocks without ...

For decades, physicists have pursued a goal that sounds nearly impossible: to build a clock that keeps time using an atom's nucleus rather than the electrons orbiting it. "Having worked in this field ...

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Keeping time is easy, keeping precise time is hard, but a new type of clock based on atomic nuclei has pushed time-keeping precision to new levels.

The world's first nuclear clocks have ticked. A team of physicists has demonstrated a working timekeeping device regulated not by orbiting electrons — as in conventional atomic clocks — but by ...

In humankind's ever-ticking pursuit of perfection, scientists have developed an atomic clock that is more precise and accurate than any clock previously created. The new clock was built by researchers ...

For many years, cesium atomic clocks have been reliably keeping time around the world. But the future belongs to even more accurate clocks: optical atomic clocks. In a few years' time, they could ...

Ekkehard Peik is a clock-maker. But instead of spending his days looking at tiny cogs and springs through a magnifying glass, the tools of his trade are powerful lasers, wires and, occasionally, ...

Scientists have built the first working nuclear clock, which uses the vibrations of atomic nuclei to keep time. Nuclear clocks have been sought after for more than two decades and could eventually ...