Abstract

There is much recent interest in atomic clocks with low power consumption, ultra-small volume, and long-term instabilities below, e.g., 10⁻¹¹over one day. Mobile satellite navigation and the synchronization of communication networks are most prominent applications. For example, miniaturized atomic clocks would be important elements for the precision time protocol (PTP), which is an approach to distribute synchronization over next-generation IP-based packet networks.

© 2011 Optical Society of America