Nuclear Clock on a Chip: A New Step Toward Precision ⚡ экспресс
Original: "Toward nanophotonic platforms for solid-state $$^{229}$$Th nuclear clocks"
A breakthrough paves the way for ultra-precise nuclear clocks on a single crystal.
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Imagine a pendulum that swings almost forever and never loses its rhythm. Now envision that pendulum is an atomic nucleus, locked inside a tiny crystal box. Scientists have shown for the first time how such a pendulum can be 'wound up' with a weak laser and turned into a clock the size of a chip. This could make navigation more precise and fundamental scientific tests more accessible.
🎯 The excited state of a thorium-229 nucleus lasts almost two hours—an eternity by nuclear standards. This allows its oscillations to be measured with unprecedented precision.
🎬 In the novel 'Altered Carbon', interstellar synchronization of consciousness relies on atomic clocks. Nuclear clocks on a chip could bring this fiction closer to reality.