Where to Buy Optical Clocks

Menlo Systems offers a complete CW laser system with an optically referenced frequency comb, the FC1500-Quantum, for experiments with cold atoms or ions, such as optical (lattice) clocks or quantum simulation or quantum computing. The rack-mounted system consists of a cavity-stabilized laser for sub-Hz linewidth, an optical frequency comb in the visible and infrared, and several customizable cw lasers. The comb transfers the narrow linewidth and stability throughout the entire spectrum and to the cw lasers, which are locked to the comb for all required electronic transitions: cooling, repumping, and clock transitions.

Mechanical clocks were the most accurate timekeepers for centuries achieving typical accuracies of seconds per day (10⁻⁴) and record values of seconds per year (10⁻⁷). Modern optical atomic clocks are accurate to seconds in the age of the universe (3 · 10⁻¹⁸) and can be compared using TOPTICA’s Difference Frequency Comb (DFC).

The complete stabilized laser system including the DFC CORE, any desired wavelength extension, beat unit, stabilization electronics, wavelength meter, counter, and lasers is now available from one source. Any of TOPTICA’s tunable diode lasers with a wavelength between 190 nm and 2200 nm can be locked to the DFC, lasers with shorter wavelengths can be stabilized using the fundamental of their SHG unit. The complete laser system is controlled from a single GUI.