Slashdot has reported:

Researchers in Vienna and Beijing have independently built the first nuclear clocks based on oscillations inside thorium nuclei, marking a milestone for a field that could yield highly portable, ultra-precise timekeepers. The clocks are precise enough to lose only about one second over millions of years, but they are not poised to replace the worldwide network of atomic clocks used for GPS and to define a second.

They also have not set the record for precision. The best atomic clocks are about 10,000 times more reliable and would take more than 100 billion years to lose a second. Nuclear clocks could eventually become more reliable than leading atomic versions, while also being made more portable.

The technology could also help scientists search for certain types of dark matter, the invisible material whose clumps account for 83 per cent of the matter in the universe. If a dark matter particle passed through thorium nuclei, it could register as a wobble in the clock’s otherwise steady tick.

The findings were published in the journal Nature. The first nuclear clocks are not expected to immediately supplant atomic clocks, which underpin GPS and the definition of a second.