Xtranet-ISA

NuClock is a high-risk but also high potential project far beyond the state-of-the-art in its field. Its recent research success was published in NATURE. The generally wide media coverage is additional proof of how important this scientific achievement is.

The project's ambitious goal is nothing less than to build the most precise clock in the world. Atomic clocks are used in satellite navigation, telecommunications, high-speed mobile networks and even banks. International Atomic Time has nowadays replaced the observations of astronomers. Since their invention, atomic clocks have been constantly improved achieving today 100 times more precise results.

But nuClock wants to go even further. It proposes a much higher precision compared to today's best atomic clocks. These clocks operate on the energy difference between two quantum states of an electron, usually the outmost electron in a Caesium atom. NuClock's radical approach is to shift measurement from the atomic level to the quantum states of the atomic nucleus. Here the difference between two energy levels used for time measurement is larger than that in the atom. Additionally, fewer unwanted interferences occur. 

Up to now, only the nucleus of Thorium-229 has the potential to be used for a nuclear clock. The isomer transition of Thorium-229, i.e. the transition between two energy levels of the same nucleus would provide for much more precise time measurement.

But first, the isomeric state of Thorium had to be proven. Nuclear physicists have been striving to achieve this for a long time. NuClock's success is thus a major step towards developing the world's best clock.

More information is available at the website of this EU-funded project.