Thorium atomic nuclei can be used for very specific precision measurements. This had been suspected for decades, and the search for suitable atomic nucleus states had been ongoing worldwide. In 2024, ...

Physicists have been hoping for this moment for a long time: For many years, scientists all around the world have been searching for a very specific state of thorium atomic nuclei that promises ...

Physicists have been hoping for this moment for a long time: for many years, scientists all around the world have been searching for a very specific state of thorium atomic nuclei that promises ...

Scientists have used laser-excited thorium-229 to probe for ultralight dark matter, even without a fully built nuclear clock. Thorium-229’s unique nuclear transition offers up to a billion times more ...

Scientists have taken another giant step towards building the most precise clock ever imagined—one that could display not only the passage of time, but shifting rules of nature itself. An ...

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 nearly 50 years, physicists have dreamed of the secrets they could unlock by raising the energy state of an atom's nucleus using a laser. The achievement would allow today's atomic clocks to be ...

In a groundbreaking study, physicists have developed a new method for detecting dark matter, an invisible substance believed to account for around 80% of the universe’s mass. Using thorium-229, a ...

We took a look at the element tritium a short time ago. A "high octane" and ultra-rare nuclear isotope of which we have a global supply you could fit in an XL-sized suitcase. A supply that small could ...

For the first time, the state of an atomic nucleus was switched with a laser. For decades, physicists have been looking for such a nuclear transition -- now it has been found. This opens up a new ...