South Australian-based company QuantX Labs has been awarded two contracts with the Department of Defence for its cutting-edge atomic clock technology.

Based at Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen innovation precinct, QuantX specialises in developing precision timing and sensing technologies.

With initial research and development undertaken at the Institute of Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) at The University of Adelaide, the company has translated years of research and development into the state-of-the-art portable optical atomic clocks.

Under the contracts, the company will deliver a mobile precision timing test bed for Defence Systems to DSTG Edinburgh. This test bed is due for delivery in early 2025 and will test and evaluate sensors, communication, and navigation systems to determine operational resilience in a GPS-degraded scenario.

QuantX Labs will also deliver optical atomic clocks under AUKUS Pillar II by the end of 2024, enabling AUKUS partners to develop advanced precision navigation and timing capabilities.

Managing director and co-founder of QuantX Labs Professor Andre Luiten said the announcement marks a significant leap forward in broadening the company’s suite of precision timing products.

“I am very proud to have been part of this second outstanding example of technology transfer. Here we see leading-edge research translated into a globally-leading product through a deep and motivated collaboration between university researchers and industry,” he said.

“We have found the magic recipe to drive this critical need, which is creating jobs, economic wealth and an improved wellbeing of our society.”

It is the second product the company has translated out of IPAS, having previously delivered their flagship product, the Cryoclock – a system that produces the purest radio frequency signals in the world and forms a key element of capability upgrades to the Jindalee Operational Radar Network.

In the future, the company plans to further develop its optical clock technology to include a clock satellite payload under the Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars program. It is scheduled to be launched in 2025.