QFC: Quantum Fibre Clock

有许多民用和军用应用都需要精确的计时和计时。人们相当感兴趣的是所谓的芯片级原子钟，它利用量子效应，具有1E-12量级的稳定性，从简单的热原子钟到光学晶格钟的1E-16。紧凑型原子钟的应用非常广泛，包括：1.自动导航，例如汽车、海事、航空、个人；2.空间，例如微型卫星；3.通信，例如蜂窝系统、电信网络、军用无线电；4.金融，例如基于高频计算机的交易、数据安全；QFC项目是对《英国量子技术展望2014》(Pritchard&Till，2014)中概述的挑战的直接回应。该项目是将新的量子钟技术从研究性实验室实验转化为工程解决方案的第一步。包括热原子、囚禁单个冷原子和囚禁多个冷原子物理在内的新量子钟技术是颠覆性的创新。这样的时钟将通过提高稳定性和潜在的尺寸、重量、功率和成本的减少来创造新的市场和应用。为了获得新的量子科学创新的好处，现在需要工程创新。对量子时钟物理的理解和行为是在定义明确的、良性的实验室范围内使用通用设备获得的。现在的挑战是开发能够承受最终用户环境的坚固的物理组件，同时优化电子系统的性能、功率、质量、体积和成本。认识到新量子钟的各种应用，QFC的方法包括一些保持灵活性的创新。对于任何应用，可能都不会有单一的最佳解决方案；人们可能希望具有最佳性能(最高稳定性)或最佳效率(最低功率)。QFC将允许用户选择。目前还没有具备这种功能的商用时钟。

There are a multitude of both civilian and military applications needing precise timing and timekeeping. There is considerable interest is so-called chip-scale atomic clocks exploiting quantum effects and having stabilities of the order of 1E-12 for simple thermal atom clocks to 1E-16 in the case of optical lattice clocks. The applications of compact atomic clocks are vast and include:1. Autonomous navigation, e.g., automotive, maritime, aviation, personal;2. Space, e.g., micro satellites;3. Communications, e.g., cellular systems, telecommunications networks, military radio;4. Finance, e.g., high-frequency computer based trading, data securityThe QFC project is a direct response to the challenges outlined in the UK Quantum Technology Landscape 2014 (Pritchard & Till, 2014). The project is the first step towards transforming the new quantum clock technologies from research laboratory experiments into engineered solutions. The new quantum clock technologies, encompassing thermal atom, trapped single cold-atom and trapped multiple cold-atom physics are disruptive innovations. Such clocks will create new markets and applications through both their improved stability and also potential reduction in size, weight, power and cost.To reap the benefits of the new quantum science innovation, engineering innovation is now required. The understanding and behaviour of quantum clock physics has been obtained in the well-defined, benign confines of a laboratory, using general-purpose equipment. The challenge now is to develop robust physics packages able to withstand the end-user environment while optimising the electronic systems for performance, power, mass, volume and cost. Recognising the variety of applications for the new quantum clocks, the approach of QFC includes a number of innovations to maintain flexibility. There will likely not be a single optimum solution for any application; one may wish to have best performance (highest stability) or best efficiency (lowest power). QFC will allow the user to choose. There are no current commercial clocks with such capabilities.