Goal: More precise than the best atomic clock: New EU-funded project nuClock

The new project 'nuClock', funded by the EU with 4 million Euro, targets within an international collaboration the foundations for a novel nuclear clock, which envisages a significantly improved accuracy compared to present atomic clocks. With ²²⁹Th there is presently only one atomic nucleus known with properties suited for this goal. In the framework of an international collaboration the LMU team around PD P.Thirolf, Dipl. Phys. L. v.d. Wense and MSc. B. Seiferle takes up the task to realize the first direct identification of the nuclear clock transition in ²²⁹Th and to precisely determine its transition energy as a prerequisite for an optimized laser development. The accuracy of the ²²⁹Th-based nuclear clock is ultimately envisaged to significantly exceed all presently used methods for time measurements.

The research project 'nuClock', committed to  lay the foundations for the realization of an (all-optical) nuclear clock instead of the conventional atomic clocks, comprises 7 universities and companies from Germany, Austria and Finland. It has been selected with a success rate of less than 4% from more than 600 project proposals and will be funded in the next 4 years with about 4 million Euro by the EU within the science funding framework Horizon 2020