Overview

Vescent’s Optical Atomic Clock — MIRIDIAN₁ — the next evolution in timekeeping. Built for both lab and field deployment, the next-generation optical clock delivers stable, scalable, real-world precision — with maser-level short-term stability and cesium-grade long-term holdover. Engineered for timing networks, quantum systems, and metrology applications, MIRIDIAN₁ redefines what’s possible in reliable optical timing.

Optical Clocks

Microwave atomic clocks based on hydrogen, cesium, and rubidium sources have been around for decades and have had tremendous impact on the economy and national security. For example, a recent Study on the Economic Benefits of GPS commissioned by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), estimates that GPS generated $1.4 trillion in U.S. economic benefits since the system became available in the 1980s.

This great success is also a vulnerability. GPS can be jammed, spoofed, and even disabled. The solution exists in next-generation clocks, so-called "optical clocks," that have shown unprecedented timing performance in laboratory environments.

Until now, optical clocks, which reference a quantum transition at optical, rather than RF, frequencies, have been confined to custom-built laboratories. The combination of commercially available optical frequency combs from Vescent and the Stabilaser from DFM present, for the first time, manufacture-ready optical clock solutions.

This technology will provide a backup to GPS, enable improved RADAR and imaging systems, data center synchronization, quantum computing, quantum networking, securing financial markets, high-speed trading, and aid national security.

Vescent Technologies website