QUASENS
About the Research Program
QUASENS: QUantum Sensor Using Strontium Beams
Goal of the QUASENS project is the development of an ultra-stable, automated and user-friendly atom-interferometry platform, which will be used for the realisation in an optical atomic clock with an unprecedented form factor. Typically, atom interferometers make use of the time evolution of quantum mechanical superpositions for highly precise measurements. Here, the optical clock is based on atom-interferometry using a thermal strontium beam. A frequency comb is used to divide down the optical frequency into the radio frequency domain. The proposed approach allows for a significantly improved clock stability compared to radio frequency atomic clocks while not being as complex as optical lattice clocks or optical ion clocks. This vastly increases their usability for applications outside of the laboratory, e.g. in data centers. As project coordinator, Menlo Systems is developing a compact optical frequency comb and a compact optical reference system as well as being responsible for the overall system integration.
We gratefully acknowledge funding by the BMBF.
