Initial results from the world’s first two working nuclear clocks indicate that the Chinese clock is about six times as stable as the one in Vienna. The findings appear in papers recently published in the scientific journal Nature.
The two devices were developed independently: the Chinese team is led by Tsinghua University in Beijing, while the European team works at TU Wien in Vienna. Both use thorium-229 nuclei embedded in crystals and keep time through the rhythm of the atom’s nucleus, unlike conventional atomic clocks, which rely on the electrons orbiting it.
The Beijing scientists showed that two separately grown crystals kept the same time, suggesting that such clocks can be reliably reproduced. The Vienna team used its clock to search for dark matter, finding no evidence of it. Thorsten Schumm, a member of the European team, had previously described the race as a “fierce but friendly” global competition.
