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First nuclear clocks utilizing thorium-229 announced
Two separate research groups, one led by Thorsten Schumm at TU Wien and the other by Shiqian Ding at Tsinghua University, have successfully built and demonstrated nuclear clocks based on thorium-229. These clocks maintain time by synchronizing a laser with the nuclear transition of thorium-229 atoms within calcium fluoride crystals. This breakthrough allows for timekeeping at the nuclear level, offering superior resilience to electromagnetic disturbances and potential advancements in fundamental physics research and positioning technologies.
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