The Sapphire Clock is featured on the front cover of “Cold Facts”, the official publication of the Cryogenic Society of America,
The Sapphire Clock is a cryogenic sapphire oscillator that allows time to be measured to the femtosecond scale (one quadrillionth of a second), the kind of accuracy required for ultra high precision measurements; such as radar technology, long baseline astronomy and quantum computing.
Building off technology developed by Prof Andre Luiten in 1996 and Prof John Hartnett in 2004-2012, the most recent version of the Sapphire Clock is capable of 100 time better spectral purity than other commercially available technologies.
The Sapphire Clock team is led by A/Prof Martin O’Connor and a commercial version will be available in late 2017.
Ref: O’Connor et al (2017) Cold Facts, Vol 33 (1): 16-17.
The Lead South Australia
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
THE world’s most precise clock has been fine-tuned to boost radar and quantum computing capabilities.
The oscillator is 10-1000 times more stable than competing technology and allows users to take ultra-high precision measurements to improve the performance of electronic systems.
Increased time precision is an integral part of radar technology and quantum computing, which have previously relied on the stability of quartz oscillators as well as atomic clocks such as the Hydrogen Maser.
Atomic clocks are the gold-standard in time keeping for long-term stability over months and years. However, electronic systems need short-term stability over a second to control today’s devices.
The new Sapphire Clock has a short-term stability of around 1×10-15, which is equivalent to only losing or gaining one second every 40 million years, 100 times better than commercial atomic clocks over a second.
The original Sapphire Clock was developed by Professor Andre Luiten in 1989 in Western Australia before the team moved to South Australia to continue developing the device at the University of Adelaide.
Lead researcher Martin O’Connor said the development group was in the process of modifying the device to meet the needs of various industries including defence, quantum computing and radio astronomy.
The 100cm x 40cm x 40cm clock uses the natural resonance frequency of a synthetic sapphire crystal to maintain a steady oscillator signal.
Associate Professor O’Connor said the machine could be reduced to 60 per cent of its size without losing much of its capability.
“Our technology is so far ahead of the game, it is now the time to transfer it into a commercial product,” he said.
“We can now tailor the oscillator to the application of our customers by reducing its size, weight and power consumption but it is still beyond current electronic systems.”
The Sapphire Clock, also known as a microwave oscillator, has a 5 cm cylinder-shaped crystal that is cooled to -269C.
Microwave radiation is constantly propagating around the crystal with a natural resonance. The concept was first discovered by Lord Rayleigh in 1878 when he could hear someone whispering far away on the other side of the church dome at St Paul’s Cathedral.
The clock then uses small probes to pick up the faint resonance and amplifies it back to produce a pure frequency with near attosecond performance.
“An atomic clock uses an electronic transition between two energy levels of an atom as a frequency standard,” Associate Professor O’Connor said.
“The atomic clock is what is commonly used in GPS satellites and in other quantum computing and astronomy applications but our clock is set to disrupt these current applications.”
The lab-based version already has an existing customer in the Defence Science and Technology Group (DST Group) in Adelaide, but Associate Professor O’Connor said the research group was also looking for more clients and was in discussion with a number of different industry groups.
The research group is taking part in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s (CSIRO’s) On Prime pre-accelerator program, which helps teams identify customer segments and build business plans.
Commercial versions of the Sapphire Clock will be made available in 2017.
A team of scientists who developed a clock so precise it gains or loses just one second over 40 millions years is recognised with one of the country’s most prestigious science prizes.
Key points:
- Adelaide scientists win Eureka Prize for developing world’s most precise clock
- Its accuracy could allow for more detail to be received about potential threats to the country
- The ‘Sapphire Clock’ is 1,000 times more precise than any other commercial system
The clock has been developed by a team of scientists from the University of Adelaide and could allow for more detail to be received about potential threats to the country.
The development is the result of more than two decades of pioneering research and has won the team one of the prestigious Eureka Prizes for science.
“This is a perfect example of fundamental research in universities leading to high technology advances that benefit our nation,” team leader Professor Andre Luiten said.
From 47 finalists, 16 awards were presented to some of the nation’s brightest minds at the 2018 Australian Museum Eureka Prize ceremony at Sydney Town Hall last Wednesday.
The prizes reward excellence in science in categories of research and innovation, leadership, science engagement and school science.
The scientists who developed the clock were awarded the Defence Science and Technology Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia.
Sapphire Clock has ‘unparalleled precision’
The cryogenic Sapphire Oscillator — otherwise known as the Sapphire Clock — was developed by the University’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, and start-up company Cryoclock Pty Ltd.
Team leader and director Andre Luiten said the Sapphire Clock would offer the potential for an upgrade of the Jindalee Over-The-Horizon Radar Network (JORN) system, which monitors aircrafts and ships off Australia’s northern approaches.
He said the development could enhance Australia’s ability to detect threats to the country, helping to see smaller objects at greater distances off shore than the current system allows.
“The sensitivity to detect objects at great distances depends on the purity of the reference clock frequencies,” Professor Luiten said.
“Our Sapphire Clock would allow JORN to generate signals that are 1,000 times purer than its current technology.”
“If JORN has access to better signals then it will be able to see smaller objects, travelling slower, at much greater distances — and that means keeping Australia safer.”
Two other researchers from the University of Adelaide were also among the finalists, including Dr Caitlyn Byrt for Outstanding Career Researcher, and Adjunct Lecture Dr Samuel Drake as part of the Causality team, which was also a finalist for the Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia.
AVALON 2019 Defence SME Innovation Grant:
The judges have recommended this go to CryoClock Pty Limited of Adelaide, SA, for developing the “Sapphire Clock” product range.
This award-winning technology provides signals that are up to 1,000 times more precise than any other commercial system: it is so precise, it gains or loses only one second over 40 million years. The Sapphire Clock has been incorporated into the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN), whose upgrade aims to improve its ability to detect slow moving objects among significant background clutter, enabling JORN to see smaller objects, travelling slower, at much greater range. The impact of the Sapphire Clock in improving end-to-end radar sensitivity and resolution is such that it has been likened by Defence to “jumping the project forward by 20 years in just one day”.
University of Adelaide researchers will develop the world’s most precise clock so that it can boost a key defence asset that safeguards Australia.
The University’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) has been awarded a $2 million contract under the Australian Government’s Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) program to adapt and develop its Sapphire Clock as part of the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) upgrade.
The Sapphire Clock is the culmination of 15 years of investment in leading-edge fundamental research. It can now deliver signals that are more than 100 times more precise than any competing technology.
“The clock is so good its performance means it only loses or gains one second every 40 million years,” says Professor Andre Luiten, Director of IPAS.
“These highly pure signals can be used to provide a revolutionary leap in the performance of many different types of advanced electronic systems.”
The Sapphire Clock is being developed in the same city that developed one of the most advanced radars ever constructed: the Jindalee Over-The-Horizon radar.
The precision of the Sapphire Clock will now be used to improve overall detection of targets by JORN.
“This radar is critical to safeguarding Australia by monitoring the northern approaches. The unique combination of leading university and defence technologies can build much improved performance,” says Associate Professor Martin O’Connor, the lead researcher on the project.
The CTD program funding was announced this week by Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon. Christopher Pyne.
The program supports Australian industry and universities to research and develop innovative technologies that have great potential for Defence applications.
“I am incredibly happy to see that the fruits of fundamental university research are now going to make a difference to all Australians by making us that little bit safer,” Professor Luiten says.
https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/media-releases/2018-08-30/advance-time-keeping-clocks-eureka-win
Technology using a pure sapphire crystal to accurately measure time has taken out the 2018 Defence Science and Technology (DST) Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia, and will be used to support upgrades and enhancements to the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN).
Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne congratulated Professor Andre Luiten and his team from the University of Adelaide on developing the sapphire clock, a device so accurate it can keep time within one second over tens of millions of years.
The sapphire clock has the potential to produce the purest of signals, which, when fed into JORN, could generate high quality surveillance data.
“This innovation delivers a step-change in radar frequency, purity and overall performance over conventional devices giving Defence a significant capability edge,” Minister Pyne said.
JORN is a network of three remote over the horizon radar (OTHR) radars located in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia. The state-of-the-art defence system provides wide area surveillance at ranges of 1,000 to 3,000 kilometres, and plays a vital role in supporting the Australian Defence Force’s air and maritime operations, border protection, disaster relief, and search and rescue operations.
The JORN technology had its beginnings in early research into the ionosphere conducted at the Weapons Research Establishment from the 1950s. Subsequently, the Jindalee high frequency OTHR became a core research project from 1970 and was developed to provide surveillance across Australia’s northern sea and air approaches.
Minister Pyne expanded on the importance of this capability development, saying, “This is an example of world-leading research with a positive impact on Australia’s defence and national security. It is a fantastic result which will be a game-changer for Defence capability.”
AUSTRALIA has launched a new “doomsday” clock to help deter the country from future threats, with such high precision accuracy, it can prevent ballistic missile strikes.
The high-precision clock will help enhance Australia’s defence radar system, providing more detailed information on potential missile strikes, planes and ships that could threaten the country’s defence.
Professor Luiten, University of Adelaide’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing director, said the technology was created in a “dusty basement” nearly 20 years ago.
He explained how accurate clocks can help devices work more effectively, and could also be used to better enhance Australia’s telecommunications network.
“When you want things to work together nicely you need to have clocks everywhere, they’re buried inside devices.”
The Sapphire Clock will be used to enhance Australia’s Jindalee Over-The-Horizon Radar Network (JORN) system, its current defence strategy to help detect far away objects such as planes, ships and other devices.
The precision clock would enable the radar network to send out signals 1000 times more efficiently and accurately, allowing even the smallest objects to be spotted at further distances.
Professor Luitten explained: “The better signals you can send out the better information you can drive.
“Sending a pure signal with radar depends on access to clocks, and the better quality the clock, the better information.
“It’s pretty magic stuff, they’re sending signals out and a tiny, tiny amount of that power comes back.
“The purer the signal, the smaller the change you can measure in the signal coming back and that gives you more precise information.
Australian scientists from the University of Adelaide created the device, naming it ‘Sapphire Clock’ (Image: The University of Adelaide)
“This will make all Australians safe.”
The Sapphire Clock got it’s name from a sapphire jewel embedded in the device, which is used to tick the clock.
Sapphire ticks better and more accurately than other materials, such as quartz used in conventional watches and mobile phones.
The jewel operates at extreme low temperatures of minus 269C.
The team from the Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing at the University of Adelaide (Image: University of Adelaid)
Prof Luiten added: “At that crazy low temperature it basically is a perfect vibrating bell.
“The analogy is if it was a bell and you struck it, it would ring for more than a month.
“It’s like a glorified grandfather clock, it repeats over and over again and it repeats in a very particular way.”
“This will hopefully do more than safeguard Australians but generate jobs and wealth.
“It would be an absolutely huge market. That’s the long-term vision.
“Our clock is the best clock in the whole world because it hold times better than anything else.”
Prof Luiten said the clock will be tested later this year.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1010933/australia-ww3-threat-doomsday-clock-scientists