Crucially, it shows that thorium-229 can be studied inside far more common materials than previously thought, removing one of the biggest obstacles to building practical nuclear clocks.<\/p>\n
The technique also offers new insight into how thorium-229 behaves and decays, which could one day inform new types of nuclear materials and future energy research.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had always assumed that in order to excite and then observe the nuclear transition the thorium needed to be embedded in a material that was transparent to the light used to excite the nucleus. In this work, we realized that is simply not true,\u201d said UCLA physicist Eric Hudson., who led the research. \u201cWe can still force enough light into these opaque materials to excite nuclei near the surface and then, instead of emitting photons like they do in transparent materials like the crystals, they emit electrons which can be detected simply by monitoring an electrical current \u2013 which is just about the easiest thing you can do in the lab.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like atomic clocks, nuclear clocks rely on the natural \u201cticking\u201d of single atoms. But in atomic clocks that process involves electrons, while nuclear clocks use oscillations within the nucleus itself. This makes them far less sensitive to external disturbances, giving them the potential to be orders of magnitude more accurate.<\/p>\n
Nuclear clocks could even be used to predict earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Because of Einstein\u2019s theory of general relativity, nuclear clocks should be sensitive to small changes in the Earth\u2019s gravity due to the movement of magma and rock deep underground. By placing nuclear clocks all over earthquake zones, like Japan, Indonesia, or Pakistan, we could watch what\u2019s going on beneath our feet in real time and predict tectonic events before they happen.<\/p>\n
Dr Morgan added: \u201cIn the long term, this technology could revolutionise our ability to prepare for natural disasters. It\u2019s incredibly exciting to think that thorium clocks can do things we previously thought were impossible, as well as improving everything we currently use atomic clocks for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, and also included physicists from the University of Nevada Reno, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Ziegler Analytics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universit\u00e4t at Mainz, and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit\u00e4t M\u00fcnchen.<\/p>\n
This research was published in the journal Nature<\/strong><\/p>\n