SLATE: Strontium Lattice for Commercial Optical Clocks

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Precision timing plays a vital role in the economy, from enabling satellite-free navigation to protecting the integrity of electronic financial trading. The current state-of-the-art commercial timing systems use microwave frequency atomic clocks, but commercial optical frequency atomic clocks are expected to be available within the next 4 years, promising a 100x improvement or better over current technology. This will enable submarine navigation to improve from 2 km accuracy over a 24 hr period to 100 m accuracy over several months. It will also prevent millions of pounds in losses due to timing errors in the financial sector. In this project, M Squared Lasers, together with the University of Birmingham, will design and build the core components of a commercial atomic clock based on the strontium atom. As forerunners in this field of new quantum technology development, we will develop compact vacuum chambers, stable laser sources, and robust electronics packages that will facilitate wider adoption of a new precision timing state-of-the-art.