Physicists have been hoping for this moment for a long time: For many years, scientists all around the world have been searching for a very specific state of thorium atomic nuclei that promises ...

Two independent teams of scientists have created the first functional clocks that can keep ultraprecise time using the nuclei ...

A clock built from thorium-229 has crossed an important line, from a long-discussed concept to a working device. The shift ...

Create a Physics World account to get access to all available digital issues of the monthly magazine. Your Physics World ...

There is a lot going on inside atomic nuclei. Protons and neutrons are whizzing around and interacting with each other. The movement of the nuclear particles and their intrinsic angular momentum ...

For the first time, the state of an atomic nucleus was switched with a laser. For decades, physicists have been looking for such a nuclear transition -- now it has been found. This opens up a new ...

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is leading two nuclear physics research projects within the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing, or SciDAC, program from the Department of Energy Office of ...

(koto_feja/Getty Images) A breakthrough in chronometry decades in the making could redefine the limits of how we keep time.

From atomic clocks to secure communication to quantum computers: these developments are based on the increasingly better control of the quantum behaviour of electrons in atomic shells with the help of ...

First dreamed up decades ago, the world's first nuclear clocks are set to improve quickly, becoming more precise and aiding the hunt for dark matter.

Findings in nuclear physics theory have received several Nobel Prizes (1975-nucleus vibrations and rotations, 1963-nuclear shell model, 1949-meson exchange model of nuclear forces). Despite these ...