Nuclear physics is the branch of science that examines the properties and behaviour of atomic nuclei, the densely packed assemblies of protons and neutrons held together by the strong interaction.

When world-leading teams join forces, new findings are bound to be made. This is what happened when quantum physicists from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and the Max Planck Institute ...

The time is nigh for nuclear clocks. In a first, scientists have used a tabletop laser to bump an atomic nucleus into a higher energy state. It’s a feat that sets scientists on a path toward creating ...

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to use high-energy particle smashups at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility for nuclear ...

Observations of a nucleus paired with a neutral meson could provide new insights into the theory of quantum chromodynamics ...

PTB’s ion traps (top right) and the PENTATRAP Penning trap mass spectrometer at MPIK in Heidelberg (bottom left) were used to obtain a new insight into the differences between isotopes and new limits ...

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Ever since the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in 1986, scientists have needed to monitor radioactive conditions inside. That job currently falls to Anatoly Doroshenko, who explains the dangers and ...

David Gross, a celebrated U.S. theoretical physicist, calls himself an optimist—especially concerning the future of his field. He’s certain that somewhere out there lurks a final, unified theory of ...

Delve into the detail of atomic physics. As the basic units of matter, atoms are the building blocks for everything in the universe. Once thought to be indivisible, we now know they can indeed be ...