{"data":{"id":1879,"lang":"en","title":"World's First Nuclear Clocks Built by Two Independent Teams, Opening New Era in Timekeeping","summary":"Two teams from Europe and China built the first working nuclear clocks using thorium-229 atoms — a breakthrough that could reshape timekeeping and dark matter research.","category":"science","category_label":"Science","published_at":"2026-06-23T22:03:51Z","updated_at":"2026-06-23T22:03:51Z","url":"https://techtools.cz/tools/news/article/1879-world-s-first-nuclear-clocks-built-by-two-independent-teams-opening-new-era-in","api_url":"https://techtools.cz/news-api/v1/articles/1879?lang=en","markdown_url":"https://techtools.cz/news-api/v1/articles/1879.md?lang=en","image_url":"https://static.scientificamerican.com/dam/asset/9246c127-d994-40d6-a883-e78c9e5249bc/d41586-026-01909-7_52722328.jpg","word_count":177,"reading_time_minutes":1,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01909-7","domain":"nature.com"},{"url":"https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-first-ticking-nuclear-clocks-are-here/","domain":"scientificamerican.com"}],"translation":{"lang":"cs","id":1952,"title":"Dva nezávislé týmy sestrojily první jaderné hodiny světa — začíná nová éra měření času","url":"https://techtools.cz/tools/news/clanek/1952-dva-nezavisle-tymy-sestrojily-prvni-jaderne-hodiny-sveta-zacina-nova-era-mereni","api_url":"https://techtools.cz/news-api/v1/articles/1952?lang=cs"},"content":"Two independent research teams—one European, one Chinese—have simultaneously built the world's first functional nuclear clocks, marking a historic leap in precision timekeeping. The European group, led by Thorsten Schumm of Vienna University of Technology and Ekkehard Peik of Germany's PTB, and the Chinese team from Tsinghua University, published their results in Nature on June 22, 2026.\n\nInstead of tracking electron transitions in atoms like conventional atomic clocks, nuclear clocks monitor energy fluctuations deep inside an atom's nucleus using ultraviolet laser pulses on thorium-229 atoms embedded in calcium fluoride crystals. The shielded nucleus is far less sensitive to environmental disturbances, eliminating the need for extreme cooling and making the devices far more portable.\n\nIn their current form, the clocks drift by roughly one second every three million years—less precise than today's best atomic clocks (which lose a second over 40 billion years), but this first generation proves the concept works. Scientists say nuclear clocks could eventually surpass atomic clocks and become powerful tools for detecting dark matter by spotting tiny changes in nuclear binding forces."}}