Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MoSaiQC (Modular Systems for Advanced Integrated Quantum Clocks)
Période du rapport: 2020-03-01 au 2022-02-28
Optical atomic clocks are amazingly stable frequency standards, which would be off by only one second over the age of the universe. Bringing those clocks from the laboratory into a portable form will have a large impact on telecommunication (e.g. network synchronization, GPS free navigation), geology (e.g. monitoring of water tables or ice sheets), astronomy (e.g. gravitational wave detection, radio telescope synchronization), and other fields.
MoSaiQC trains 15 ESRs in this quantum technology, giving them hands-on experience in all aspects of optical clocks, from theoretical foundations, over the development of advanced components (e.g. laser systems, vacuum, electronics,...) to applications in all relevant industry sectors. The ESRs will push the boundaries of clock technology, especially in view of advanced, portable clocks and a promising, so far not realized type of clocks, superradiant clocks.
Most MoSaiQC partners have also been partners of the Quantum Flagship consortium iqClock, which combined academia and industry for research on optical clocks. MoSaiQC exploits the excellent foundation provided by iqClock, and goes one step beyond in its goals. We will build modules for a portable clock with higher integration and we will prepare the foundations for a portable superradiant clock.
The MoSaiQC training provides a broad range of transferable skills ranging from communication to ethics and from business acumen to gender issues. Secondment, visits, summer schools and other network events will provide opportunities to gain broad experience beyond the know-how of the hosting partner and allows the ESRs to establish long-lasting connections to international peers and stakeholders in academia and industry. MoSaiQC prepares the ESRs for important roles in the Quantum Revolution 2.0 that is taking off now.
MoSaiQC trains 15 ESRs in this quantum technology, giving them hands-on experience in all aspects of optical clocks, from theoretical foundations, over the development of advanced components (e.g. laser systems, vacuum, electronics,...) to applications in all relevant industry sectors. The ESRs will push the boundaries of clock technology, especially in view of advanced, portable clocks and a promising, so far not realized type of clocks, superradiant clocks.
Most MoSaiQC partners have also been partners of the Quantum Flagship consortium iqClock, which combined academia and industry for research on optical clocks. MoSaiQC exploits the excellent foundation provided by iqClock, and goes one step beyond in its goals. We will build modules for a portable clock with higher integration and we will prepare the foundations for a portable superradiant clock.
The MoSaiQC training provides a broad range of transferable skills ranging from communication to ethics and from business acumen to gender issues. Secondment, visits, summer schools and other network events will provide opportunities to gain broad experience beyond the know-how of the hosting partner and allows the ESRs to establish long-lasting connections to international peers and stakeholders in academia and industry. MoSaiQC prepares the ESRs for important roles in the Quantum Revolution 2.0 that is taking off now.
The ESRs have been and are being trained in the hard and soft skills needed for their project, which are to a large extent transferable to many career paths that the ESRs might undertake after their PhDs. Hard skill training happens hands-on, by being integrated in research teams pursuing optical clocks and related technology. The ESRs have typically first worked with other team members, learning important foundational skills (lasers, optics, electronics, numerics). This enabled them to then independently tackle their own parts of the research projects and learn advanced skills (defining goals, strategic planning, analysing and creatively solving problems, etc.). Interlaced with this hands-on training, the ESRs have been educated in their topic (ultracold quantum sensing with a focus on optical clocks and industry perspectives of quantum technology) and in soft skills (e.g. time and project management, career planning, presenting, etc.) during MoSaiQC events.
Specific achievements were the following. ESR3 (UvA) has participated in building a kHz-transition superradiant laser, improved an ultrastable reference laser and is building an UHV cavity, all geared towards realizing a mHz-transition superradiant laser. ESR4 and ESR5 (UoB) have assessed optical clock end use cases. ESR4 has developed a small vacuum system housing a reference cavity, improved the main UHV vacuum system of her experiment and setup dipole trap optics. ESR5 has used UoB’s clock test setup to create Sr magneto-optical traps and is expanding from bosonic to fermionic Sr. ESR6 (TOP) received training in ultrafast fiber laser technology and frequency combs as well as introduction in related low noise optical measurements. She has assembled her first femtosecond oscillator for use in an advanced optical frequency comb. ESR7 (UMK) did prepare a software to autonomic and remote control of ECDL lasers. ESR8 (UMK) has participated in the construction of an UHV vacuum system and is currently preparing a laser cooling setup and a fibre noise cancellation setup. ESR9 (UCPH) has set up an ultrastable reference laser system which will be used for beat measurements against superradiant pulses. ESR10 (UCPH) has gained know-how in designing, building and controlling: a high finesse optical cavity, slave lasers, and a strontium beam experiment for continuous spectroscopy. ESR11 (TUW) has implemented a semi-classical simulation framework for numerical simulations of superradiant lasers and used it to help the experimental groups realise their experiments. ESR12 (UIBK) has theoretically evaluated inhomogeneous effects that increase the linewidth of superradiant lasers. ESR13 (BT) is creating a model to calculate the requirements of a telecom network for the dissemination of time and frequency at the national level. ESR14 (UoB) has determined the frequency of a Sr transition important for his project and optimised his Sr magneto-optical trap. ESR15 (NKT) has produced seed lasers relevant to the 689nm cooling laser, an appropriate amplifier reaching 1W, and a numerical model for improving amplifier design wrt power consumption and laser noise properties.
Specific achievements were the following. ESR3 (UvA) has participated in building a kHz-transition superradiant laser, improved an ultrastable reference laser and is building an UHV cavity, all geared towards realizing a mHz-transition superradiant laser. ESR4 and ESR5 (UoB) have assessed optical clock end use cases. ESR4 has developed a small vacuum system housing a reference cavity, improved the main UHV vacuum system of her experiment and setup dipole trap optics. ESR5 has used UoB’s clock test setup to create Sr magneto-optical traps and is expanding from bosonic to fermionic Sr. ESR6 (TOP) received training in ultrafast fiber laser technology and frequency combs as well as introduction in related low noise optical measurements. She has assembled her first femtosecond oscillator for use in an advanced optical frequency comb. ESR7 (UMK) did prepare a software to autonomic and remote control of ECDL lasers. ESR8 (UMK) has participated in the construction of an UHV vacuum system and is currently preparing a laser cooling setup and a fibre noise cancellation setup. ESR9 (UCPH) has set up an ultrastable reference laser system which will be used for beat measurements against superradiant pulses. ESR10 (UCPH) has gained know-how in designing, building and controlling: a high finesse optical cavity, slave lasers, and a strontium beam experiment for continuous spectroscopy. ESR11 (TUW) has implemented a semi-classical simulation framework for numerical simulations of superradiant lasers and used it to help the experimental groups realise their experiments. ESR12 (UIBK) has theoretically evaluated inhomogeneous effects that increase the linewidth of superradiant lasers. ESR13 (BT) is creating a model to calculate the requirements of a telecom network for the dissemination of time and frequency at the national level. ESR14 (UoB) has determined the frequency of a Sr transition important for his project and optimised his Sr magneto-optical trap. ESR15 (NKT) has produced seed lasers relevant to the 689nm cooling laser, an appropriate amplifier reaching 1W, and a numerical model for improving amplifier design wrt power consumption and laser noise properties.
The Modular Systems for Advanced Integrated Quantum Clocks that MoSaiQC is developing will lead to more compact, robust and transportable optical clocks. We want to go beyond the state of the art in the design of atom sources and vacuum chambers, the resilience of laser systems, system automation and real-world theoretical descriptions of clocks and some of their applications. Part of our effort goes into realising a novel type of clock, a superradiant clock, which has intrinsic robustness advantages compared to traditional optical clocks.
MoSaiQCs work accelerates the transition of optical clocks from the lab to the market, which offers great opportunities for telecommunications, navigation, sensing, and science.
MoSaiQCs work accelerates the transition of optical clocks from the lab to the market, which offers great opportunities for telecommunications, navigation, sensing, and science.