Jun Ye, a JILA and NIST Fellow and CU Boulder Professor of Physics, and his team have made headlines in Quanta Magazine for their groundbreaking work on nuclear timekeeping. Graduate student Chuankun Zhang led the team in observing a thorium-229 nuclear transition—an elusive process that could redefine how we measure time.

This discovery, made after decades of research, is millions of times more precise than previous measurements, positioning Ye’s group at the forefront of nuclear clock development. The team’s findings, published in Nature, mark a major milestone in timekeeping technology, potentially allowing future tests of fundamental physics, including variations in the constants that govern the universe.

Ye’s group celebrated the achievement after months of precise experimentation, capping off a trio of related discoveries from other international teams. This breakthrough signals a new chapter in precision timekeeping and fundamental physics research.