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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteA nuclear clock would keep time using an energy transition inside an atomic nucleus; an atomic clock uses a transition involving an atom’s electrons. The leading nuclear-clock candidate is thorium-229, whose unusually low-energy nuclear transition can be addressed with vacuum-ultraviolet light. Researchers have compared that transition with a strontium atomic clock and demonstrated clock-like operation in a solid-state platform, but a nuclear clock has not been shown to outperform the best optical atomic clocks.
What is a nuclear clock?
A clock needs a repeatable process that serves as a frequency reference. In an atomic clock, that reference comes from a specific change in an atom’s electron energy states. A nuclear clock would instead use a change between energy states in the atom’s nucleus. The distinction is where the referenced transition occurs—not whether the atom contains a nucleus.
For a clock based on thorium-229, the relevant change is between the nucleus’s ground state and a higher-energy isomeric state. The transition’s frequency provides the reference that clock electronics can track and use to count time.
Why is thorium-229 a candidate?
Most nuclear excitations require much more energy than ordinary optical transitions. Thorium-229 is unusual: its isomeric state is about 8 eV above the ground state, exceptionally low for a nuclear excitation. That energy is within reach of vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) laser spectroscopy, making the transition experimentally accessible. A 2026 review describes it as the lowest known nuclear transition energy and the key candidate for nuclear-clock research (Lu, Zhao, and Zhou, Chinese Physics B, 2026).
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How does a nuclear clock differ from an atomic clock?
| Feature | Atomic clock | Nuclear clock research |
|---|---|---|
| Clock transition | Between electron energy states around the nucleus | Between energy states within the nucleus |
| Example used in the cited research | Strontium-87 optical atomic clock | Thorium-229 isomeric transition |
| How the reference is studied | Atomic transitions are used as frequency standards | The thorium transition is excited and its frequency measured against an atomic-clock reference |
| Development status described in the cited work | Established reference technology | Developing laboratory research; no demonstrated replacement for leading atomic clocks |
Because the nucleus is much smaller than the electron cloud, nuclear transitions may be less sensitive to some external disturbances. That is a potential advantage, not a guarantee of superior accuracy: the clock system still has to control and account for effects that shift the transition.
How do researchers make and operate one?
Two approaches under study host thorium differently. In a solid-state design, thorium nuclei are embedded in a crystal. In a trapped-ion approach, thorium ions are held and controlled individually. The 2026 review covers both approaches; the available evidence does not establish a performance ranking between them.
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Solid-state crystals
A crystal can hold many thorium nuclei in a compact host, but the host environment affects the transition. In a thorium-doped calcium-fluoride crystal, a 2025 study found that one selected transition shifted by 62(6) kHz over a 143 K temperature range. Other measured lines shifted by more than 1 MHz. For that selected line and experimental system, the authors estimated that a 10-18 precision target would require temperature stability of about 5 μK under the measured conditions. These are results and an estimate for that particular crystal experiment, not universal specifications for nuclear clocks (Higgins et al., Physical Review Letters, 17 March 2025).
Trapped thorium ions
In the trapped-ion approach, researchers control thorium ions rather than embedding the nuclei in a bulk host crystal. The 2026 review discusses this route alongside solid-state systems. The sources cited here do not provide a directly comparable performance result that would justify declaring one approach more accurate or mature than the other.
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From transition to clock signal
Researchers must excite the nuclear transition, detect its response, compare its frequency with a reference, and use feedback to keep a clock signal aligned with the transition. A 2024 study measured the frequency ratio between the thorium-229 isomeric transition and a strontium-87 atomic clock (Nature, 2024). A 2026 review describes subsequent progress including resonant laser excitation, absolute frequency comparison, and feedback-loop operation of a solid-state nuclear clock (Lu, Zhao, and Zhou, Chinese Physics B, 2026).
Is a nuclear clock more accurate than an atomic clock?
Not on the evidence described here. The frequency-ratio measurement connects the thorium transition directly to an atomic-clock reference, and feedback-loop operation is an important step toward a working clock. Neither result demonstrates that a nuclear clock has surpassed the best optical atomic clocks in accuracy. The 2025 temperature study also illustrates why promising transition properties alone are not enough: environmental shifts and their control matter to actual clock performance.
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What could nuclear clocks be used for?
Near-term work is precision measurement, not consumer timekeeping. Researchers are interested in using a nuclear transition to test fundamental physics, among other scientific motivations. That remains a research goal; the cited sources do not establish a commercial nuclear-clock product or everyday consumer use. For further context on the thorium isomer’s research status and prospects, see the 2024 review in European Physical Journal Special Topics (Kraemer, Moritz, and Scharl, 2024).
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