Adelaide startup QuantX Labs will supply Defence with $2.7 million worth of atomic clocks in the first sale of its latest precision timing and sensing breakthrough and the company’s second successful tech transfer.
The state-of-the-art quantum optical atomic clocks Defence is acquiring are the culmination of over seven years of research and development that began at the Institute of Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) at The University of Adelaide.
Defence said the clocks will accelerate its own development of quantum for precision navigation under AUKUS Pillar II. A second contract will provide a new testbed facility for evaluating existing hardware like communication and navigation systems from early next year.
QuantX Labs co-founder and managing director Professor Andre Luiten said the sales are the culmination of a rare successful commercialisation journey.
“Sadly, while Australia is at the forefront of global research, it is a laggard when it comes to translating that capability into industry impact,” he said.
“Here we have found the magic recipe to drive this critical need, which is creating jobs, economic wealth and an improved wellbeing of our society.”
QuantX Labs existing flagship product, a ‘Cryoclock’ that provides pure output signals for use in Radar, was developed through a similar research translation out of the IPAS.
Defence has been procuring from QuantX Labs since 2020 and worked with the Adelaide company on developing the quantum optical atomic clocks. It now believes the technology is at a point that will be a real difference for military forces.
“Defence will increasingly leverage emerging disruptive technologies such as quantum to provide a capability edge for the warfighter,” chief defence scientist Professor Tanya Monro said.
QuantX Labs’ two deals cover the supply of optical atomic clocks for Defence to be used with allies under AUKUS Pillar II, which includes cooperation on quantum, autonomous systems and undersea capabilities among others.
According to the company, testing of first article optical clocks is “showing almost an order of magnitude improvement on the performance of the current microwave atomic clocks used in today’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)”.
QuantX Labs will also supply a mobile precision timing test bed to be located at the Defence Science and Technology Group’s Edinburgh facility in Adelaide.
The testbed is expected to be operational from early 2025 for evaluation of sensors, communication, and navigation systems to determine operational resilience in a GPS-degraded scenario.
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