China Develops Crystal for GPS-Free Submarine Navigation

China’s new crystal may facilitate submarines, missiles navigate without GPS Chinese researchers have developed a new crystal that could enable ultra-precise nuclear clocks for GPS-free navigation in submarines and spacecraft. The fluorinated borate compound, created by scientists at the Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, produces ultraviolet light at a record wavelength of 145.2 nanometres. This breakthrough surpasses the previous benchmark set by potassium beryllium fluoroborate, a crystal developed in China in the 1990s that could only reach about 150 nanometres—just short of the 148.3 nanometre target needed for thorium nuclear clocks. The new crystal addresses a key requirement for practical thorium-229 nuclear clocks, which preserve time using vibrations inside an atomic nucleus rather than electron vibrations used in atomic clocks. Due to the fact that atomic nuclei are far less affected by external disturbances like temperature and electromagnetic fields, nuclear clocks could be 10 to 1,000 times more accurate than current atomic clocks. This level of precision is essential for time-based navigation systems, which rely on extremely accurate timing to calculate position without GPS signals. Such navigation is particularly valuable for submarines, which cannot use GPS effectively even as submerged and must surface to obtain a fix—making them vulnerable. GPS signals also do not work underwater or underground and can be jammed or spoofed during conflict. By enabling highly accurate timekeeping in GPS-denied environments, the new crystal could support navigation for submarines, deep-space probes and other systems operating where traditional GPS fails. The research was published in Advanced Materials in January 2026. The team, led by Pan Shilie, stated that their work “paves the way for the practical development of the thorium-229 nuclear clock” and offers a new approach to designing next-generation deep-ultraviolet materials. While nuclear clocks will not make GPS redundant, they could significantly reduce reliance on satellite-based systems in critical applications.