Grants and Contributions:

A Two-Photon Cesium Optical Clock

1036449

$411,266.00

Dec 16, 2025 - Mar 31, 2028

Despite their unmatched precision, modern laboratory optical clocks like the strontium lattice clock are unlikely to become portable in the near future. Many important applications, e.g., radar, communications, and navigation, require fieldable devices with volumes of <50 liters and fractional frequency instabilities that are ≤ 10-13 /√τ. √τ is the square root of the integration time, i.e., clocks with 1s instabilities of around 10-13. For modern technological needs, compact portable optical clocks are the best candidates for low frequency instability, but current models, which achieve 10⁻¹³/√τ performance, are costly, not available for general purchase, and have no Canadian vendors. Currently, QVIL is developing a two-photon Cesium (Cs) optical clock for stabilization of a gravimeter. The current setup has demonstrated an instability of < 5 x 10-13/ √τ after around one year of work. The Project seeks to take the promising results obtained so far on the Cs two-photon clock and develop a portable, two-photon Cs optical clock to replace active Hydrogen masers. QVIL’s product will be improved to surpass the maser's accuracy. The Project team focuses on accelerating the design for a vapor cell capable of collecting the maximum amount of fluorescence, increasing the signal-to-noise of the optical frequency reference which is inversely proportional to the instability of the clock. Improving the signal-to-noise allows laser power to be reduced which decreases Stark shifts, a major limitation of current optical clocks. The Project team works to accelerate the integration of proprietary Kerr frequency combs, for converting the optical frequency to countable radio frequencies, with the optical frequency reference. The Project develops a plan for improvements in size, weight power and cost (SWaP-C) reduction of the clock. Post-project, QVIL will launch a spin-off to manufacture the Cs optical clock in Canada, establish a precision timing company for diverse applications, and pursue follow-on projects to shrink the device to chip scale.

National Research Council Canada

In the short term, anticipated outcomes will be strengthened collaborations across industry, academia, and government to support research excellence. In the medium term, anticipated outcomes will be the development of new and potentially disruptive technologies with collaborators. In the long term, find collaborative solutions to public policy challenges and create stronger innovation systems.

Waterloo, Ontario, CA N2L 0A9

172-2025-2026-Q3-1036449

Grant

Grants and Contributions

777087321

Not-for-profit organization or charity

Quantum Valley Ideas Laboratories

Waterloo

35114

Collaborative Science, Technology and Innovation Program - Collaborative R&D Initiatives

Collaborate on multiparty research and development programs to catalyze transformative, high-risk, high-reward research with the potential for game-changing scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs in priority areas.

541710