Revolutionizing Timekeeping: Unleashing the Potential of Scandium in Next-Gen Atomic Clocks

An international research team has made a significant breakthrough in the development of atomic clocks by creating a pulse generator based on scandium that is a thousand times more precise than the current standard atomic clock based on cesium. Using the X-ray laser at the European XFEL, the team achieved an accuracy of one second in 300 billion years, compared to the current standard of one second in 300 million years. Atomic clocks have numerous applications, including precise positioning using satellite navigation, and the breakthrough opens up possibilities for ultrahigh-precision spectroscopy and the measurement of fundamental physical effects.