Sbir phase II: chip-scale optical frequency standards

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Cooperative Agreement award of $956,313, granted under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program, funds the development of compact, stable, and accurate optical frequency standards using chip-scale iodine vapor cells. The research aims to produce fundamentally accurate and stable optical frequencies in the form of laser light for applications in telecommunications, aerospace, semiconductor inspection, and chemical measurement tools. Key technical innovations will focus on creating a "physics package" containing a chip-scale iodine vapor cell with electrical functionality, laser light routing, and software interfaces to counter environmental disturbances and deliver a stable, precise measurement device. This effort has the potential to make quantum frequency standards more accessible and reverse the ongoing price-creep of timekeeping devices, enabling widespread adoption. The award runs from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2025, and is being performed by Vapor Cell Technologies LLC, a small business specializing in vapor cell technologies.

Abstract

This small business innovation research (sbir) phase II project produces compact optical frequency standards using state-of-the-art optical frequency metrology techniques adopted from national metrology institutes. Commercially, these devices will produce fundamentally accurate and stable optical frequencies in the form of laser light. End uses of these optical frequency standards include telecommunications test equipment, aerospace sensors, semiconductor inspection tools, and chemical measurement tools. The market trend is to produce more compact, mass-producible devices to improve sensing capabilities across industries. Improving the accuracy and stability of compact photonics technologies will enable next-generation microelectronics and photonic systems to produce reliable measurements without sacrificing durability or sensitivity. The resulting products will be inexpensive and will lend themselves to scalable manufacturing. Making these products accessible to the scientific and technology communities will enable researchers and engineers to build intrinsically accurate products based on definitions of the international system of units (SI) second. This product will compete within the atomic clock marketplace which is valued at $300 million, and which is growing at 6.25% per year. This effort has the potential to reverse the ongoing problem of price-creep of timekeeping devices that is currently preventing the large-scale adoption of quantum standards. The intellectual merit of this project is to use advances in microfabrication techniques combined with fundamental molecular and optical physics to produce compact, stable, and accurate optical frequency standards. Measurement science requires the distribution and availability of measurement references and standards. Optical frequency standards serve a variety of niche applications requiring accurate measurements with light. This research will improve the purity of chip-scale iodine vapor cells using novel materials and also fully investigate the materials invented during the phase i period of performance. These vapor cells will be practical realizations of the SI second as agreed upon by internationally accepted standards protocols. The core technical innovation in this project will focus on producing a ?physics package? Containing a chip-scale iodine vapor cell with electrical functionality for controlling the vapor pressure, laser light routing for implementing high-resolution spectroscopy, and a software interface that converts the various sensor inputs into a precise and accurate measurement of a molecular transition. The team will leverage trends in optical clocks that have proved the utility of software-defined algorithms in the interrogation, synthesis, and discipline of physics packages to counter environmental and measurement-related disturbances ultimately producing a stable and accurate device. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.