First dreamed up decades ago, the world's first nuclear clocks are set to improve quickly, becoming more precise and aiding the hunt for dark matter.

Two independent teams of scientists have created the first functional clocks that can keep ultraprecise time using the nuclei ...

By using a rare thorium nucleus as a timekeeper, physicists have demonstrated the first working nuclear clock, a device that could lead to even more precise clocks and new ways to search for dark ...

New standards in nuclear physics An international research team led by the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI has measured the radius of the nucleus of muonic helium-3 with unprecedented precision. The ...

A clock built from thorium-229 has crossed an important line, from a long-discussed concept to a working device. The shift matters because this clock does more than keep time. It can also watch for ...

Physicists working on the MIGDAL experiment reported the first direct evidence of the Migdal effect in January 2026, ...

Nuclear effect The deformed shape of the ytterbium-173 nucleus (right) makes it possible to excite the clock transition with a relatively low-power laser. The same transition is forbidden (left) if ...

But physicists have long dreamt of even better clocks that run on atomic nuclei, which are less sensitive to environmental disturbances. According to new research, that dream might soon become reality ...

Many atomic nuclei have a magnetic field similar to that of Earth. However, directly at the surface of a heavy nucleus such as lead or bismuth, it is trillions of times stronger than Earth's field and ...

Laser isotope separation exploits the slight differences in atomic energy levels between isotopes to achieve selective excitation and ionisation. By tuning narrowband or broadband lasers to ...