Self-Emergent Microcombs Flip Switch for Precision Timekeeping
GLASGOW, Scotland, Aug. 16, 2022 — Researchers from the universities of Strathclyde, Loughborough, and Sussex have demonstrated how optical clocks can be reliably switched on and made to keep running. The collaborators’ work resolves what had emerged as a persistent problem in the development of ultraprecise optical clocks and, specifically, the microcombs on which they rely to move from an “off” state to an “on” state. The collaborators’ work used a fiber laser to realize a reliable,