Ultrastable Free-Space Laser Links for a Global Network of Optical Atomic Clocks

Gozzard, David; Howard, Lewis; Dix-Matthews, Benjamin; Karpathakis, Skevos; Gravestock, Charles; Schediwy, Sascha

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.128.020801

Cited by 40 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This can be accomplished with traditional AO 15,29 , or with novel "passive" methods such as photonic lanterns 30 or multi-plane light conversion 31 . In combination with atmospheric phase-stabilisation technology [32][33][34] , such a deployable optical terminal could even facilitate secure ground-to-LEO continuous variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) 35 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demonstration of 100 Gbps Coherent Free-Space Optical Communications at LEO Tracking Rates

Walsh

Karpathakis

McCann

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Free-space optical communications are poised to alleviate the data-flow bottleneck experienced by spacecraft as traditional radio frequencies reach their practical limit. While enabling orders-of-magnitude gains in data rates, optical signals impose much stricter pointing requirements and are strongly affected by atmospheric turbulence. Coherent detection methods, which capitalize fully on the available degrees of freedom to maximize data capacity, have the added complication of needing to couple the received signal into single-mode fiber. In this paper we present results from a coherent 1550 nm link across turbulent atmosphere between a deployable optical terminal and a drone-mounted retroreflector. Through 10 Hz machine vision optical tracking with nested 200 Hz tip/tilt adaptive optics stabilisation, we corrected for pointing errors and atmospheric turbulence to maintain robust single mode fiber coupling, resulting in an uninterrupted 100 Gbps optical data link while tracking at angular rates of up to 1.5 deg/s, equivalent to that of spacecraft in low earth orbit. With the greater data capacity of coherent communications and compatibility with extant fiber-based technologies being demonstrated across static links, ground-to-low earth orbit links of Terabits per second can ultimately be achieved with capable ground stations.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demonstration of 100 Gbps Coherent Free-Space Optical Communications at LEO Tracking Rates

Walsh

Karpathakis

McCann

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One could set up a network of atomic and nuclear clocks on Earth and in space for this purpose. A highprecision clock in space with an optical link to Earth will also enable us to compare optical clocks in any place on Earth [124], without the need for a fiber-link connection [47].…”

Section: Other Applications and Outlookmentioning

confidence: 99%

SpaceQ -- Direct Detection of Ultralight Dark Matter with Space Quantum Sensors

Tsai¹,

Eby²,

Safronova³

2022

Preprint

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Recent advances in quantum sensors, including atomic clocks, enable searches for a broad range of dark matter candidates. The question of the dark matter distribution in the Solar system critically affects the reach of dark matter direct detection experiments. Partly motivated by the NASA Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) and the Parker Solar Probe (PSP), we show that space quantum sensors present new opportunities for ultralight dark matter searches, especially for dark matter states bound to the Sun. We show that space quantum sensors can probe unexplored parameter space of ultralight dark matter, covering theoretical relaxion targets motivated by naturalness and Higgs mixing. If an atomic clock were able to make measurements on the interior of the solar system, it could probe this highly sensitive region directly and set very strong constraints on the existence of such a bound-state halo in our solar system. We present sensitivity projections for space-based probes of ultralight dark matter which couples to electron, photon, and gluon fields, based on current and future atomic, molecular, and nuclear clocks.

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“…One could set up a network of atomic and nuclear clocks on Earth and in space for this purpose. A highprecision clock in space with an optical link to Earth will also enable us to compare optical clocks in any place on Earth [109], without the need for a fiber-link connection [46].…”

Section: Other Applications and Outlookmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Space quantum technologies are known to have important practical applications, including the auto-navigation of spacecrafts, relativistic geodesy [45], linking Earth optical clocks [46], secure quantum communications [47], and others. The NASA Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) mission has recently demonstrated a factor of 10 improvement over previous space-based clocks [48], and similar or better sensitivity has been achieved by the other atomic clocks in space [49].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SpaceQ -- Direct Detection of Ultralight Dark Matter with Space Quantum Sensors

Tsai¹,

Eby²,

Safronova³

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent advances in quantum sensors, including atomic clocks, enable searches for a broad range of dark matter candidates. The question of the dark matter distribution in the Solar system critically affects the reach of dark matter direct detection experiments. Partly motivated by the NASA Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC), we show that space quantum sensors present new opportunities for ultralight dark matter searches, especially for dark matter states bound to the Sun. We show that space quantum sensors can probe unexplored parameter space of ultralight dark matter, covering theoretical relaxion targets motivated by naturalness and Higgs mixing. If an atomic clock were able to make measurements on the interior of the solar system, it could probe this highly sensitive region directly and set very strong constraints on the existence of such a bound-state halo in our solar system. We present sensitivity projections for space-based probes of ultralight dark matter which couples to electron, photon, and gluon fields, based on current and future atomic, molecular, and nuclear clocks.

show abstract

Ultrastable Free-Space Laser Links for a Global Network of Optical Atomic Clocks

Cited by 40 publications

References 34 publications

Demonstration of 100 Gbps Coherent Free-Space Optical Communications at LEO Tracking Rates

Demonstration of 100 Gbps Coherent Free-Space Optical Communications at LEO Tracking Rates

SpaceQ -- Direct Detection of Ultralight Dark Matter with Space Quantum Sensors

SpaceQ -- Direct Detection of Ultralight Dark Matter with Space Quantum Sensors

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