Miniaturised Cold Atom Solutions for Timing Applications

往往是效率的飞跃将创新的想法从纸上的绘画带到了日常生活的物品上。量子技术为测量我们的环境和进行计算提供了全新的方法，但这些系统的低效限制了它们的广泛使用。此外，控制和测量单个原子的性质是量子技术的基础，执行起来格外困难。直到最近，才出现了允许这种情况的技术，尽管研究人员专注于改进控制和测量技术，但提高其效率的工作相对来说还没有被探索。Aquk Technologies的任务是使更小、更轻、更高效的量子设备能够开始为每个人服务，而不是局限于实验室。基于南安普顿大学10多年的研究，阿夸克技术公司希望利用其在制造和系统建设方面的独特知识，创造一种能够测量时间、重力、磁场、无线电波和加速度的量子“引擎”。阿夸克技术公司已经确定了一项独特的突破，并为其申请了专利，使设计更加高效。消除三分之一的传统系统部件是通过省略系统核心普遍需要的磁场来实现的。这一突破的意义不仅是对当前传统系统的挑战，还为截然不同的设计创造了途径，在考虑到所需的尺寸、重量和功率时，这些设计将带来效率的飞跃。该项目旨在探索基于这一突破的高性能原子钟可以提供什么，并使机会用于以前无法进入的市场，如惯性导航、电信同步、金融交易和电网监控。展示基于阿夸克技术量子“引擎”的原子钟的价值将成为其他传感器类型和市场可能的范例，从而为进一步研究和投资这项英国制造的创新铺平道路。

It is often a leap in efficiency that brings innovative ideas from drawings on paper to the items of everyday life. Quantum technology offers completely new ways of measuring our environment and performing computations, but inefficiencies in these systems limit their widespread use. Furthermore, controlling and measuring the properties of individual atoms, the basis that quantum technology is built upon, is exceptionally difficult to perform. It is only recently that technology allowing this has come about, and while researchers have focused on improving control and measurement techniques, work in making it more efficient has been left relatively unexplored.Aquark Technologies mission is to enable smaller, lighter and more efficient quantum devices such that this technology can begin to serve everyone, rather than stay confined to laboratories. Based on more than 10 years of research at the University of Southampton, Aquark Technologies looks to use its unique knowledge of fabrication and systems construction to create a quantum "engine" capable of making measurements of time, gravity, magnetic fields, radio waves and acceleration. Aquark Technologies have identified and patented a unique breakthrough that allows a more efficient design. Elimination of a third of a conventional systems components is achieved by omitting the magnetic fields ubiquitously required at the very core of the system. The significance of this breakthrough not only defies current conventional systems, it generates pathways for radically different designs that will bring leaps in efficiency when considering the size, weight and power required. This project sets out to explore what a high performance atomic clock based on this breakthrough may offer and enable opportunities for use in previously inaccessible markets such as inertial navigation, telecommunication synchronisation, financial transactions and electric grid monitoring.Demonstrating the value of an atomic clock based on Aquark Technologies quantum "engine" will serve as an example for what is possible for other sensor types and markets, thereby paving the way for further future research and investment into this British made innovation.