LASER 2025: Toptica launches Optical Quantum Clock for quantum metrology

26 Jun 2025

OQC is based on laser-cooled trapped ytterbium ion for stability and precision.

by Matthew Peach in Munich

Established as a provider of high-end lasers and laser rack systems, Toptica has this week announced at LASER world of Photonics that is offering its first complete quantum technology solution: a commercial single-Yb+-ion frequency standard.

The Munich-based company’s system runs in two industrial 19 in racks and can be accessed and controlled remotely. The optical frequency standard with its output at 871 nm can be combined with the Difference Frequency Comb (see below) to provide a “complete clock solution” with low-phase-noise RF outputs.

Dr. Matthias Höh, VP Global Marketing, took optics.org on a tour of some of the company’s main new developments on show at the booth (B2.103).

“The Optical Quantum Clock uses an ytterbium ion as its reference and our new system builds closely on our previous successful collaborative research project called Opticlock. That was jointly coordinated by Toptica and the German National Metrology Institute (PTB). Typical buyers of the OQC would be metrology institutes worldwide.”

Toptica is also offering several other key components and enabling technologies for other clock and quantum technologies - notably the Clock Laser System (CLS). “The Clock Laser System is a key part of the OQC but the CLS is also suited to wider markets, such as the manufacturers of quantum computers. We have already sold around 20 to 30 CLS into this sector,” said Dr. Höh.

Precision and stability

The rapid evolution of quantum computing and optical clocks has led to a demand for an unprecedented degree of stability, thereby driving the boundaries of contemporary laser technology. Toptica’s CLS has been developed to meet these challenges, providing “industry-leading frequency stability and ultra-narrow linewidths to satisfy the exacting requirements of next-generation quantum applications,” said Dr. Höh.

Featuring diode lasers with an ultra-narrow linewidth below 1 Hz, stabilized to high-finesse optical ULE cavities, the CLS achieves high frequency stability far beyond 1-second integration time. This performance suits it to driving the narrow atomic clock transitions of neutral atoms like Yb and Sr, as well as ions such as Yb+, Sr+, Ca+, and Ba+.

Rack-mounted frequency comb

Another significant announcement is the Modular Difference Frequency Comb (MDFC), designed for 19 in rack integration. “This uses our proprietary CERO-technology which is based on Difference Frequency Generation. It is inherently fCEO-stable and combines high robustness and a convenient user interface in a compact footprint,” said Dr. Höh.

The MDFC is designed to clear optical tables and to stow away laser systems into a 19 in form factor. It is controlled from a single user-interface; any of Toptica’s tunable diode lasers with a wavelength between 420 nm and 2000 nm can be locked to the frequency comb. and frequency-doubled lasers with shorter wavelengths can be stabilized using their fundamental.

Optical atomic clock from quantum technologies systems provider.