What limits the accuracy of a solid-state thorium nuclear clock?
In plain words
Thorium-229 nuclei embedded in a transparent crystal can be laser-excited, which could make a clock that is compact and insensitive to many disturbances. The crystal environment broadens and shifts the line, and the ultimate accuracy is unknown.
Precise statement
For Th-229 in $\mathrm{CaF_2}$, $\mathrm{LiSrAlF_6}$ or $\mathrm{ThF_4}$ hosts, identify the mechanisms (temperature-dependent electric-field gradients, inhomogeneous broadening from charge-compensating defects, isomer quenching by radiation-induced defects) limiting linewidth and frequency reproducibility, and determine the achievable fractional uncertainty of a solid-state nuclear clock.
What would settle it
Repeated measurements across crystals and temperatures with a closed-loop nuclear clock compared to an optical clock, giving a reproducibility budget below $10^{-17}$.
Status in the literature
Unverified note: it names recent work and was partly written without a live literature search; it awaits a check by an editor.
Temperature sensitivity was measured in 2024, crystal-to-crystal reproducibility in 2025, and a Th-229 nuclear clock with feedback loop was reported in June 2026.
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