Imagine knowing your exact location to centimeters, or that time measurements measure them accurately enough to detect subtle changes in the Earth’s surface. The breakthrough in miniaturized optical atomic clocks brings this future closer to reality and has a potential impact on everything from self-driving cars to volcanic monitoring.
Scientists at Purdue University and Chalmers University of Technology have developed chip-based technologies that help reduce ultra-fast optical atomic clocks, from laboratory-sized setups to components small enough to fit into everyday devices.
Meters to centimeters
“Today’s atomic clock enables GPS systems with positional accuracy of several meters,” explains Professor Minhaochi of Purdue University. “An optical atomic clock allows you to achieve accuracy just a few centimeters. This improves all electronic systems based on vehicle autonomy and positioning.”
Researchers’ innovations are concentrated on devices known as microcombs. This is a small chip that produces equally spaced frequencies of light, similar to comb teeth. These chips act as important bridges between the ultra-high frequencies used in optical atomic clocks and the electronic signals needed to count time.
Solving the challenges of miniaturization
Today’s atomic clocks power GPS systems and digital devices, but typically use microwave frequencies. The new optical atomic clock offers much higher accuracy, but remains limited to the lab due to its size and complexity.
The researchers overcome this limitation through innovative micro-kombu pairing. “We combined two micro kelp to solve the problem. The combs are close to each other, but with a small offset,” says Kaiyi Wu, author of the Purdue University study. This configuration allows the system to convert accurate optical signals to more manageable electronic frequencies.
Beyond navigation
That meaning goes far beyond a more accurate GPS. Professor Qi states that optical atomic clocks can “detect minimal changes in the Earth’s latitude and can be used to monitor, for example, volcanic activity.”
This technology integrates photonic components, including frequency combs, atomic sources and lasers, into chips that measure micrometers to millimeters in size. The team’s photonic chip includes 40 microcomb generators and is 5 mm wide.
From labs to everyday life
“Photonic Integration Technology allows for the integration of optical components of optical atomic clocks. The small photonic chip on the micrometer will be millimeter-sized, significantly reducing the size and weight of the system,” Wu said. I’ll explain it.
Victor Torres Company, professor of photonics at Chalmers and co-author of the research, sees a broader meaning. Mobile phone and computer functions. ”
The road ahead
Although this research represents an important advancement, the work remains to create a complete system-on-chip. This technology could ultimately enable optical atomic clocks for satellites, remote research stations and drones. This is currently not possible with traditional laboratory-sized systems.
The study entitled “Bernier Microkombe for Integrated Optical Atomic Clocks” Published in Nature Photonics. This represents a collaboration with researchers from Purdue University, Chalmers Institute of Technology and King Saud University.
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