Compound Semiconductor Technologies Global Ltd. of Glasgow, UK, has won a contract to supply 780-nm laser diodes to the European Space Agency's (ESA) European Space & Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The lasers will be used in the development of optically pumped atomic clocks based on the 6.8-GHz transition frequency of rubidium. Such timepieces are crucial to the realization of Galileo, a civilian-run European global navigation satellite system under development by the European Commission and the ESA that will offer an alternative to the US Global Positioning System.