Dr. Laura Sinclair of NIST’s Communications Technology Laboratory received the 2024 Arthur S. Flemming Award for her work on femtosecond free-space optical time-transfer. This technology aims to redefine precision timekeeping, offering performance a thousand times better than GPS to support future global networks. While not a formal industry standard yet, it represents a foundational development for next-generation timing systems.
Her research enables precise control of light at ultra-low power, which is essential for advancing quantum networks and distributed imaging. The breakthrough addresses long-standing technical barriers, paving the way for improved navigation and chronometric geodesy.
Currently, the technology is in the development phase following over a decade of research at NIST. It serves as a foundational step toward future implementations rather than an immediately deployed commercial standard, with potential applications opening new frontiers in science.
Keywords: femtosecond time-transfer, precision timekeeping, attosecond control
