A nuclear clock prototype hints at ultraprecise timekeeping 

Scientific clockmakers have crafted a prototype of a nuclear clock, hinting at future possibilities for using atomic nuclei to perform precise measurements of time and make new tests of fundamental physics theories.

While the definition of a “clock” is scientifically hazy, the prototype is not yet used to measure time. So it technically should be called a “frequency standard,” physicist Jun Ye says. But the work brings scientists closer to a nuclear clock than ever before. “For the first time, all essential ingredients for a working nuclear clock are contained in this work,” says Ye, of JILA in Boulder, Colo. 

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