Infleqtion to Manufacture the UK's First Quantum Optical Atomic Clock

Quantum technology company Infleqtion has received funding from innovation agency Innovate U.K. to boost its capacity for producing quantum-enabled systems. The company plans to use these funds to create a new optical atomic clock whose accuracy and dependability improve on those used in current global navigation satellite system (GNSS) based systems.

Infleqtion says the new clock will achieve frequency stability over fifty times better than the best atomic clocks of comparable size. This level of accuracy will be critical for applications including autonomous navigation, resilient power distribution and national security. 

Quantum-enabled position, navigation and timing (PNT) systems offer advantages over conventional GNSS-based systems, including increased accuracy, increased resilience and decreased size and weight. Additionally, they are less susceptible to bad weather, interference, and jamming because they do not depend on outside signals.  

Infleqtion plans to use the funding to bring its new optical atomic clock to the commercial market and help establish the U.K. as a leader in designing and producing quantum-enabled PNT systems.

"This project will deliver the U.K.'s first commercially available optical atomic clock which will provide a crucial layer of resilience across many national security applications," said Infleqtion general manager Timothy Ballance.

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"The funding will allow Infleqtion to advance its manufacturing capability in the UK for systems required to build a wide range of quantum-enabled products. Coupled with our engineering expertise, we are in an excellent position to lead the market in delivering next-generation commercial atomic clocks at scale."