Optical quantum clocks developed at the University of Adelaide have been proven to out-perfom GPS navigation systems by many orders of magnitude.
The clocks, which were put through their paces in naval exercises, were developed by a team led by the University of Adelaide’s Professor Andre Luiten, Chief Innovator and Chair of Experimental Physics at the Institute of Photonics and Advanced Sensing, in partnership with colleagues at the Defence Science and Technology Group.
The two separate portable quantum clock technologies were tested in the waters off Hawai’i during RIMPAC in July 2022 and developed jointly by University of Adelaide and DSTG, with an investment by DSTG. The design relies on sealed cells containing a low-pressure gas of atoms. These cells are then interrogated with lasers at specific colours, and the information extracted is used to steer the laser wavelength to the atom – providing stability.
While the clocks have been designed for this very specific application, future variants could have other uses like next-generation GPS satellite constellations or accurate record keeping in high frequency financial trading.