Progress Towards a Low SWaP-C Miniaturized Rubidium Oscillator by Orolia

In a growing world of mobility in which GNSS synchronisation becomes essential, several studies have demonstrated the advantages of miniature, low power timing sources based on atomic clock technology. Such sources allow fast acquisition (e.g. for secured telecom with long spreading code) and long coherent integration (e.g. for operation in GNSS denied or indoor environment).

On this webinar, Orolia members will report on the progress towards a low-power miniaturized Rubidium Oscillator timing source based on double resonance (DR) in 85Rb.

Presenter Bios:

Christian Schori obtained the MSc degree in physics from the Aarhus University, Denmark in 2000.

From 1998-2002 he worked in the Quantum Optics group at Aarhus University to obtain his PhD in physics (2002). During this work he was responsible for setting up the first quantum cryptographic link in Denmark using single photon transmission in telecom optical fibers (in collaboration with industry Lucent DK and Cryptomathic).

From 2002 to 2005, he worked as post doc in the Quantum Optics group at ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Here he led the design and construction of a new atomic source with fermionic potassium.

From 2006 to 2010 he has been working as technical responsible for the development of chip scale atomic clock technology, first at Observatoire Neuchâtel, and since 2007 at LTF (University Neuchâtel).

From 2010 to 2011 his research at LTF has focused on frequency combs, ultra-stable lasers, and microwave generation. Since October 2011 he has worked at Spectratime as responsible for constructing a new mercury ion frequency standard. This work, carried out under ESA contract, has led to the successful demonstration of ion trapping, observation of the 40.5 GHz microwave resonance, and closed loop operation.

Serge Grop received his PhD degree in engineering science in 2010 from the Université de Franche-Comté for his dissertation ‘Elisa, une référence de fréquence ultrastable pour l’Agence Spatiale Européenne’.

During his PhD, he developed a cryocooled sapphire oscillator (CSO) to complete the frequency reference set of DSA3 in Malärgue, Argentina.

He was granted of two best student awards for this work. From 2011 to 2015, he was hired as technical manager on the project ULISS by the FEMTO-ST Institut in France. He worked on the improvement of the design of the CSO developed during his study to reduce power consumption and cost.

In 2015, he worked for the company Alemnis AG as project leader. He managed the CTI project FastObs and he developed a dynamic module to upgrade a nano-mechanical testing platform for high-speed measurement.

In 2017, he has joined Orolia Switzerland as RF Electrical engineer and since July 2018 he is R&D director. He led the mRO-50 industrialisation and he is responsible for the development of the defense and space model of this product.

JC Chen graduated in Electronics Engineering from ENI Brest with a Microwave and RF specialisation which allowed him to join the Microwave & RF Instrumentation division of Hewlett Packard (now Agilent). After a few years in an Application and Product Support role, he moved to International Sales & Marketing Management roles and spent the larger part of his career within the French Professional Electronic giant Thales. Within Thales Group, he lived in various countries worldwide (Singapore, China, Brazil and USA) for the Electron Devices division as well as the Air Traffic and Air Defence Systems division. In 2010, he joined Cameca as VP Sales & Marketing then as Managing Director of the Business Unit of the Ametek Group in charge of Material Science Mass spectrometry. Since early 2020 he is now Atomic Clock Product Line Director of Orolia Switzerland.