Portable quantum clock technology

Accurate and assured timing is critical to numerous defence and civilian operations including computing, communications and navigation.

The best of these systems typically depend on access to Global Positioning Systems (GPS). However, in contested environments, where GPS may be jammed or deceived, this access will be denied, with the resulting loss of synchronisation between multiple locations stopping these critical systems from working effectively. A solution is to develop a sovereign, portable and independent clock, deployable in the field.

The University of Adelaide and the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) have developed not one but two separate portable quantum clock technologies. Both clocks are optical quantum clocks that can provide incredibly pure timing signals that outperform GPS by many orders of magnitude.

Director of the Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) and Research Group leader, Prof Andre Luiten, said "These clocks are performing at a level which formerly could only be obtained by the best laboratory clocks. The incredible team has created fundamentally new approaches to embed this performance into a portable package."

"The clocks were demonstrated and tested against other quantum sensing technologies in a field trial representing real-world conditions. This successful collaboration is proudly coupled with DSTG’s Quantum Assured Position Navigating and Timing (QAPNT) STaR Shot, which delivers new capabilities to ensure the Australian Defence Force and our coalition partners can operate in complex and contested environments with uninterrupted access to position, navigation and timing information."