9th Symposium on Frequency Standards and Metrology wrap-up

The Summer School on Frequency Standards, Precision and Quantum Measurement was held on the Gold Coast, 9–13 October 2023, followed by the 9th Symposium on Frequency Standards and Metrology, at Kingscliff, 16–20 October 2023.  Both events were a huge success, and were chaired by UFFC IEEE Fellow and EQUS Chief Investigator Prof. Michael Tobar.  As such, EQUS was a major sponsor of the events, and provided substantial in-kind support with organisation and logistics. 

Summer School

The summer school was targeted at students, early-career researchers and professionals who wanted to learn more on the subject.  Twelve experts from all over the world delivered tutorials on topics that included optical lattice clocks, frequency combs, optical and microwave metrology, atomic precision and quantum metrology, vapor cells, quantum sensing, time keeping, nuclear clocks, highly charged ion clocks, mathematical and statistical methods for time and frequency standards, UTC and the role of primary frequency standards, quantum metrology with photons, low-noise and frequency-stable oscillators, time-transfer methods and molecular clocks.

Approximately 50 participants came from many parts of the world, including France, USA, UK, Germany, Singapore, China and Australia.  Attendees were invited to present a poster on the topic of their research on the afternoon of Wednesday 11 October, with awards for the best student and early-career researcher posters.  The excursion on Thursday 12 October was to the nearby Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, where everyone was introduced to a range of Australian animals.

The 9th Symposium on Frequency Standards and Metrology

This symposium series serves as an international discussion forum on precision frequency standards throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, and associated precision and quantum metrology.  It focuses on the fundamental scientific aspects of the latest ideas, results and applications in relation to these frequency standards and measurement techniques. 

The 9th Symposium, in view of its main theme, frequency standards and related metrology, took place at an historic time, given metrology was subjected recently to a radical change in the definitions the SI base units.  In 2019, these units were all redefined in terms of physical constants, with time having a central role, with the definition of the second, in terms of the ground-state hyperfine frequency of the caesium atom, entering in the definition of all base units except the mole.  Research continues to be undertaken in many laboratories around the world on optical frequency standards, with the goal of replacing microwave frequency standards with a possible redefinition of the second.  If successful, this would have a very important effect on the SI unit system.

The Symposium was a truly international event, with 197 attendees, from UK, Singapore, USA, France, Germany, China, Italy, Poland, Korea, Japan, Canada and Australia.  The symposium included 49 invited talks and more than 100 poster presentations.  Topics included precision tests of fundamental physics, precision and low-noise signal generation, molecular, atomic, ion and nuclear clocks, time and frequency transfer, precision and quantum metrology with atoms, photons and phonons, miniature portable space systems, SI definitions, clocks and timescales.  The keynote presentation was presented by the winner of the 2023 Shaw Prize in Astronomy, Prof. Matthew Bailes, from Swinburne University, on ‘millisecond radio pulsars: nature's clocks in the sky’.  This was followed by the founder of the Symposium series, Jacques Vanier, discussing the influence of frequency standards on the SI unit system.

The Symposium excursion was to tropical fruit world, which saw the attendees experience a wide range of native fruits and fauna, as well as different fruits from all around the world.

This wrap-up was udapted from https://ieee-uffc.org/post/news/summer-school-frequency-standards-precis....