CIFS - Calcium Ion Frequency Standard

高度精确的原子钟具有广泛和不断扩大的重要应用范围，并用于我们日常生活的许多方面。一个众所周知的例子是GPS导航系统，它依赖于亚微秒级的精确定时来提供位置和定时信息。这些信息用于通信系统、电信、金融和基础设施应用，以及许多其他不太明显的领域。然而，基于卫星的系统容易受到外部影响和攻击。因此，现在暴露了许多这些依赖关系，需要采取行动使依赖卫星获得的授时信息的系统更加独立和健壮。基于捕获离子的定时系统可以提供比目前可用的商业系统显著提高的精度。基于捕获离子的时钟将使备用系统和独立系统得以建立。目前，这些系统的精确度为10^-18，类似于宇宙年龄的1秒误差，仅在研究实验室中得到证实。此外，由于其复杂性、功耗和环境要求，这些系统远非便携，而且对于广泛部署来说过于昂贵。苏塞克斯大学开发了一种便携式光学原子参考，该参考基于捕获的钙离子，由“时钟”激光器预先稳定在紧凑的光学腔中，并与光学微梳相结合，可以将系统的输出转换为可用的信号。这些系统合在一起就像原子钟一样，具有支持未来通信和基础设施系统所需的精度。该项目旨在改进和工业化目前的钙离子时钟设计，减少系统的尺寸和重量，并通过增加子系统集成来增强其坚固性。这将使其成为许多系统的更有用的产品，并应为具有广泛应用的先进定时设备开辟新的市场。将开发便携式光学原子钟系统，并在该联盟的共同努力下探索其在各种应用中的集成，该联盟包括：TMD技术公司，量子技术开发，真空电子和国防应用的加固电子领域的领先公司；*专业从事非线性光学和光学系统开发；* Chronos Technology，定时和同步设备的领导者；萨塞克斯大学，* Leonardo，领先的系统集成商；* BT，一家专注于高速光网络技术的通信服务提供商；* QinetiQ，一家在国防领域经营的科学和工程公司。

Highly accurate atomic clocks have a broad and expanding range of vital applications and are used in many aspects of our daily lives. One well-known example is the GPS navigation system which depends on sub-microsecond accurate timing to provide both position and timing information. This information is used in communications systems, telecoms, finance and infrastructure applications, as well as a host of other less obvious places. However, satellite-based systems are vulnerable to external influence and attack. Consequently, many of these dependencies are now exposed, and action is required to make systems that depend on satellite-derived timing information more independent and robust.Timing systems based on trapped ions can deliver significantly improved accuracy over currently available commercial systems. Clocks based on trapped ions will enable both backup and stand-alone systems to be built. Currently, these systems, which give accuracies of 10^-18, similar to an error of one second in the age of the universe, have only been demonstrated in research labs. Furthermore, due to their complexity, power consumption and environmental requirements, these systems are far from portable as well as being too expensive for widespread deployment.The University of Sussex has developed a portable optical atomic reference based on trapped calcium ions probed by a "clock" laser pre-stabilised to a compact optical cavity and, in conjunction with an optical micro-comb, can turn the output of the system into a useable signal. Together these systems function as an atomic clock with the accuracy required to support future communications and infrastructure systems.This project aims to improve and industrialise the current calcium ion clock design, reducing the size and weight of the system and ruggedise it by increasing subsystem integration. This will make it a much more useable product for many systems and should open up a new market for advanced timing devices with a wide range of applications.A portable optical atomic clock system will be developed, and its integration in various applications explored with the combined efforts of the consortium, which comprises of:* TMD Technologies, a leading company in quantum technology development, vacuum electronics and ruggedised electronics for defence applications;* Covesion, experts in nonlinear optics and optical system development;* Chronos Technology, a leader in timing and synchronisation equipment; and the University of Sussex,* Leonardo, a leading system integrator;* BT, a communications services provider focusing on high-speed optical networking technology;* QinetiQ, a science and engineering company operating in the defence sector.