Super-precise timekeeping can be achieved through the breakthrough of the nuclear clock

Scientists at Japan’s National Institute of Astronomy have developed a tick-based Radionuclear Prototype (RLP) for a dark-matter detection program at atomic clocks. TheRLP had lasers that match the energy it takes to move electrons between two levels inside an atom. The tick correspond to the energy transitions of protons and neutrons, rather than electrons, as they reshuffle into an excited state.