Millions in funding for clock project
In atomic clocks as we have known them, it is the atomic shell that “ticks”, whereas this is done by the atomic nucleus in thorium clocks. As inside the atomic nucleus, the protons and neutrons are packed together much more tightly and are more strongly bonded than the electrons in the outer shell, a clock based on the atomic nucleus is much more promising in terms of accuracy than previous atomic clocks. That entails advantages for high-precision time and frequency measurement applications and for fundamental physics research. Now that the international research consortium has already shown in several publications that such a clock is, in principle, feasible, the European Research Council has demonstrated its confidence in the project by providing it with funds amounting to a total of 13.8 million euros. In addition to researchers from the PTB, scientists from Vienna, Munich, Delaware (USA), Heidelberg and Aachen are participating in the interdisciplinary and international “Thorium Nuclear Clock” project.