Optical clocks at sea
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Roslund, Jonathan D.; Cingoez, Arman; Lunden, William D.; Partridge, Guthrie B.; Kowligy, Abijith S.; Roller, Frank; Sheredy, Daniel B.; Skulason, Gunnar E.; Song, Joe P.; Abo-Shaeer, Jamil R.; Boyd, Martin M.
刊物名称：
Nature
ISSN/ISSBN：
0028-5061
DOI：
10.1038/s41586-024-07225-2
发表日期：
2024-04-25
关键词：
摘要：
Deployed optical clocks will improve positioning for navigational autonomy 1 , provide remote time standards for geophysical monitoring 2 and distributed coherent sensing 3 , allow time synchronization of remote quantum networks 4,5 and provide operational redundancy for national time standards. Although laboratory optical clocks now reach fractional inaccuracies below 10-18 (refs. 6,7 ), transportable versions of these high-performing clocks 8,9 have limited utility because of their size, environmental sensitivity and cost 10 . Here we report the development of optical clocks with the requisite combination of size, performance and environmental insensitivity for operation on mobile platforms. The 35 l clock combines a molecular iodine spectrometer, fibre frequency comb and control electronics. Three of these clocks operated continuously aboard a naval ship in the Pacific Ocean for 20 days while accruing timing errors below 300 ps per day. The clocks have comparable performance to active hydrogen masers in one-tenth the volume. Operating high-performance clocks at sea has been historically challenging and continues to be critical for navigation. This demonstration marks a significant technological advancement that heralds the arrival of future optical timekeeping networks. Sea-based optical clocks combining a molecular iodine spectrometer, fibre frequency comb and electronics for monitoring and control demonstrate high precision in a smaller volume than active hydrogen masers.