TY - JOUR
AU - Tian Ooi
AU - Jack Doyle
AU - Chuankun Zhang
AU - Jacob Higgins
AU - Jun Ye
AU - Kjeld Beeks
AU - Tomas Sikorsky
AU - Thorsten Schumm
AB - Solid-state thorium-229 (229Th) nuclear clocks1–5 are set to provide new opportunities for precision metrology and fundamental physics6–8. Taking advantage of inherent low sensitivity of a nuclear transition to its environment9, orders of magnitude more emitters can be hosted in a solid-state crystal compared with current optical lattice atomic clocks10. Furthermore, solid-state systems needing only simple thermal control11 are key to the development of field-deployable compact clocks. Here we explore and characterize the frequency reproducibility of the 229Th:CaF2 nuclear clock transition, a key performance metric for all clocks. We measure the transition linewidth and centre frequency as a function of the doping concentration, temperature and time. We report the concentration-dependent inhomogeneous linewidth of the nuclear transition, limited by the intrinsic host crystal12 properties. We determine an optimal working temperature for the 229Th:CaF2 nuclear clock at 196(5) K, at which the first-order thermal sensitivity vanishes. This would enable in situ temperature co-sensing using different quadrupole-split lines, reducing the temperature-induced systematic shift below the 10−18 fractional frequency uncertainty level. At 195 K, the reproducibility of the nuclear transition frequency is 220 Hz (fractionally 1.1 × 10−13) for two differently doped 229Th:CaF2 crystals over 7 months. These results form the foundation for understanding, controlling and harnessing the coherent nuclear excitation of 229Th in solid-state hosts and for their applications in constraining temporal variations of fundamental constants.
BT - Nature
DA - 2026-02
DO - 10.1038/s41586-025-09999-5
N2 - Solid-state thorium-229 (229Th) nuclear clocks1–5 are set to provide new opportunities for precision metrology and fundamental physics6–8. Taking advantage of inherent low sensitivity of a nuclear transition to its environment9, orders of magnitude more emitters can be hosted in a solid-state crystal compared with current optical lattice atomic clocks10. Furthermore, solid-state systems needing only simple thermal control11 are key to the development of field-deployable compact clocks. Here we explore and characterize the frequency reproducibility of the 229Th:CaF2 nuclear clock transition, a key performance metric for all clocks. We measure the transition linewidth and centre frequency as a function of the doping concentration, temperature and time. We report the concentration-dependent inhomogeneous linewidth of the nuclear transition, limited by the intrinsic host crystal12 properties. We determine an optimal working temperature for the 229Th:CaF2 nuclear clock at 196(5) K, at which the first-order thermal sensitivity vanishes. This would enable in situ temperature co-sensing using different quadrupole-split lines, reducing the temperature-induced systematic shift below the 10−18 fractional frequency uncertainty level. At 195 K, the reproducibility of the nuclear transition frequency is 220 Hz (fractionally 1.1 × 10−13) for two differently doped 229Th:CaF2 crystals over 7 months. These results form the foundation for understanding, controlling and harnessing the coherent nuclear excitation of 229Th in solid-state hosts and for their applications in constraining temporal variations of fundamental constants.
PY - 2026
SN - 1476-4687
EP - 72–78
T2 - Nature
TI - Frequency reproducibility of solid-state thorium-229 nuclear clocks
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09999-5
VL - 650
ER -