Japanese media report that China and Europe are collaborating on the development of an atomic clock with a precision such that it would deviate by only one second every thirty million years.

Japanese Media: Chinese and European Teams Simultaneously Develop “Nuclear Clock”

According to Kyodo News on November 15:

Research teams from China and Europe have independently achieved the world’s first functional “nuclear clock.” This device measures time by detecting minute energy changes within atomic nuclei. Two papers detailing the breakthrough were simultaneously published in October in the British scientific journal *Nature*.

This marks the first practical demonstration of such a technology. Its precision is exceptionally high, with an estimated deviation of only one second every thirty million years.

If further development proceeds, the research could lead to significant advances in precision measurement technologies; however, it has not yet surpassed the current highest accuracy of existing “atomic clocks.”

Global standard time is currently determined using atomic clocks, which measure the frequency of electronic transitions in cesium atoms via electromagnetic waves. The new “nuclear clock” instead utilizes the frequency of state changes within thorium nuclei, rather than electrons. Since atomic nuclei are less susceptible to external environmental influences compared to electrons, researchers believe this approach could enable the creation of timekeeping devices that are more precise and stable than current atomic clocks.

Although the experimental conditions differed between the two research groups, both incorporated thorium-229—an isotope of thorium—into calcium fluoride crystals and used laser irradiation to measure the frequency of nuclear state transitions.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1881834944081924/

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