Quantum metrology

Atomic clocks go nuclear

The quantum metrology research group is working towards a new type of atomic clock, that uses the atomic nucleus of Thorium-229 to realize the „ticking“. Going from electronic shell to nuclear transitions promises an increase in precision together with a more robust and compact implementation. More information can be found under https://www.nuclock.eu/, opens an external URL in a new window

News

EC funds Innovative Training Network for quantum clocks

The European Commission has announced that it will support the new MoSaiQC Innovative Training Network for quantum clocks. The new network will be coordinated by prof. Florian Schreck at the University of Amsterdam, and consists of 10 partners from industry and academia, including TU Wien. The grant of 4.1 million euros will be used to hire 15 PhD students over a period of 4 years. Within this training network, TU Wien offers one full-time 3 years PhD position for highly-motivated and well-qualified student to work on the theoretical modelling of superradiant lasers. The work will be performed under supervision of Dr. Georgy A. Kazakov.

Schematic drawing of a superradiant optical clock, one of the new technologies that will be developed as part of the MoSaiQC Training Network.

© Atominstitut

Schematic drawing of a superradiant optical clock, one of the new technologies that will be developed as part of the MoSaiQC Training Network.

The goal of the Innovative Training Networks, for which 128 projects have been funded in this round of applications, is to contribute to the increase of the overall quality and innovation of doctoral training in Europe and beyond. The funding of the networks is part of the EC’s broader Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Programme for the training of excellent researchers at all stages of their careers, while encouraging transnational, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility.

The MoSaiQC network – short for ‘Modular Systems for Advanced Integrated Quantum Clocks’ – aims to kick-start a competitive European industry for optical quantum clocks and to strengthen and accelerate the pipeline of clock development. These clocks, making use of modern quantum technology, will be ultra-precise and have many applications in science, technology and society – think of e.g. synchronizing ultra-fast telecommunication networks. For most applications transportable, simple to use, affordable optical clocks are needed. The research of the PhD students that will be hired in the MoSaiQC programme will be aimed towards these goals.

The MoSaiQC network will have close ties to the existing iqClock consortium, with similar goals and also coordinated by prof. Florian Schreck at the University of Amsterdam. On the academic side, the Network further consists of the University of Birmingham, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, the University of Copenhagen, the TU Wien and the University of Innsbruck. The industry partners in the network are Teledyne e2v (UK), Toptica (Germany), NKT Photonics (Denmark) and British Telecom.

Further information

Further information on MoSaiQC, including up-to-date job postings for all partner institutes, can be found at www.mosaiqc.eu, opens an external URL in a new window. The website for the iqClock project is www.iqclock.eu, opens an external URL in a new window., the website for the QM group of TU Wien is here, opens in new window