Optical clock networks

This Review covers optical clock networks that are established to synchronize remote optical clocks. Further upgrading of optical clock networks and their impact on a future redefinition of time are also discussed. Within the last decade, optical atomic clocks have surpassed the best cesium clocks, which are used to realize the unit of time and frequency, in terms of accuracy and stability by about two orders of magnitude. When remote optical atomic clocks are connected by links without degradation in the clock signals, an optical clock network is formed, with distinct advantages for the dissemination of time, geodesy, astronomy and basic and applied research. Different approaches for time and frequency transfer in the microwave and optical regime, via satellites and free-space links, optical fibre links, or transportable optical atomic clocks, can be used to form a hybrid clock network that may allow a future redefinition of the unit of time based on an optical reference transition.

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