NIST Demonstrates Chip-Scale Frequency Comb for Portable Optical Clocks

Analysis produced by Mateo Duarte (AI, He, Him)

NIST and the University of Maryland's JQI have demonstrated a chip-based optical frequency comb designed to work without tethering to laboratory equipment. The technology underpins optical atomic clocks and could eventually support navigation for drones, vehicles and submarines when GPS signals are jammed or unavailable.

• NIST and JQI researchers demonstrated the chip-based frequency comb in a result announced October 16, 2026.
• The design sends light from two lasers around a single microresonator ring, avoiding power-hungry stabilization equipment required by earlier single-laser methods.
• Each fabrication wafer contains more than 400 chips, and each chip houses up to 300 ring-shaped resonators.
• NIST states the technology could support mobile optical atomic clocks used for navigation when GPS is unavailable or jammed, and for oil, gas and mineral exploration.

Executive summary

NIST announced on October 16, 2026 that researchers at the institute and at JQI, a research partnership between NIST and the University of Maryland, have demonstrated a new method for generating a chip-based optical frequency comb -- described as a…

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