Optical Clock Technologies for Future GNSS

Abstract

Clocks are the primary payload on GNSS satellites. In the last decades, optical clock technologies evolved, where laboratory setups of single ion and lattice clocks have demonstrated frequency stabilities at the 10-18 level for longer integration times of a few thousand seconds. Setups using Doppler-free spectroscopy of molecular iodine have much lower complexity and demonstrated frequency stabilities at the 10-15 level for integration times up to 10,000 s. They might be an option for future GNSS, in a first step backing-up or replacing the currently used microwave clocks. Future concepts of GNSS employ optical technologies including optical frequency references and optical inter-satellite links. Beside long-term stability, also short-term stability of the oscillators is becoming relevant. Lasers, frequency stabilized to an optical cavity deliver short-term stability up to several seconds and are most promising candidates for such an oscillator. We present current work on the development of iodine- and cavity- based optical frequency references with respect to applications in GNSS.