Cold Atoms in Space and Atomic Clocks: ACES

Ch. SALOMON , Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel [ENS-LKB]

N. DIMARCQ , Laboratoire de lHorloge Atomique [LHA]
M. ABGRALL, A. CLAIRON, P. LAURENT, P. LEMONDE, G. SANTARELLI,
P. UHRICH , Laboratoire Primaire du Temps et des Frquences [BNM-LPTF]
L.G. BERNIER, G. BUSCA, A. JORNOD, P. THOMANN , Observatoire Cantonal de
Neuchtel [ON]
E. SAMAIN , Observatoire de la Cte dAzur [OCA CERGA]
P. WOLF , Bureau International des Poids et Mesures [BIPM]
F. GONZALEZ, Ph. GUILLEMOT, S. LEON, F. NOUEL, Ch. SIRMAIN,
Centre National dEtudes Spatiales [CNES]
S. FELTHAM , European Space Agency [ESTEC]
ENS-LKB, Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Ecole Normale Suprieure, 24 rue Lhomond,
75231, Paris, France
LHA, Observatoire de Paris, 61 avenue de lObservatoire 75014 Paris, France
BNM-LPTF, Observatoire de Paris, 61 avenue de lObservatoire 75014 Paris, France
ON, rue de lObservatoire 58, 2000 Neuchtel, Switzerland
OCA-CERGA, 2130 route de lObservatoire 06460 Caussols, France
BIPM, Pavillon de Breteuil, 92312 Svres cedex, France
CNES, 18 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31402 Toulouse, France
ESA / ESTEC, Keplerlaan, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands

1) Introduction
The field of atom manipulation using laser light has experienced a considerable
growth over the last 20 years. From the initial demonstration experiments in the
early 1980's, the research field has evolved into a mature domain with a wealth
of new applications as testified by the 1997 Nobel prize in Physics awarded to
S. Chu, C. Cohen-Tannoudji and W. Phillips [1]. Applications such as ultrastable clocks, matter-wave interferometers, Bose-Einstein condensation and
atom lasers develop rapidly and it is now conceivable to fly such systems in
space. For cold atoms, space brings two major ingredients.
First, space offers weightlessness: atoms can indeed be cooled to such low
temperatures that the Earth gravity represents a major perturbation to their
motion. Take for instance a gaseous ensemble of rubidium atoms cooled in an
atom trap to a temperature sufficiently low that Bose-Einstein condensation
1

occurs (Figure 1) : in this spectacular quantum phenomenon, nearly all atoms

accumulate in the lowest energy state of the trap and they behave exactly all in
the same way.
In this system, the atoms have, on average, a mere speed of less than 30
micrometers per second. As soon as the trap is switched off, in only one tenth of
a second, the atoms acquire on Earth a speed of 1 meter per second which
exceeds their initial velocity by a factor 33 000 ! In a second, these atoms have
dropped by 5 meters and have usually hit the bottom of the vacuum chamber in
which they were cooled. In space, on the contrary, the microgravity conditions
allows one to keep these atoms in the observation volume for several seconds to
tens of seconds.

Figure 1: An atom laser.

Rubidium atoms are extracted from a cold rubidium gas (left) and from a BoseEinstein condensate(right). An intense low divergence atomic beam falls under
the effect of gravity. (courtesy of the university of Mnich, [2])
Second, space constitutes a unique laboratory to test fundamental physics laws
with great precision. It is well known that a conflict exists today between
2

general relativity, that describes well gravitation classically, and quantum

mechanics which describes well microscopic phenomena [3]. Today there is no
satisfying quantum theory of gravitation and theoreticians seek to unify all four
fundamental interactions of nature in a single theory. In space, the Equivalence
Principle (the universality of free fall), which forms the basis of Einsteins
general relativity theory, can be tested with orders of magnitude improvements
over ground-based experiments. Similarly the famous redshift effect (Clocks in
Earth orbit run at a different rate than on the Earth surface) can be tested with
unprecedented accuracy by comparing ultra-stable clocks orbiting around the
earth with companion clocks on Earth [3,4]. Other fundamental predictions of
general relativity and of modern physical theories can be tested in space and will
constitute a crucial search for new interactions or new forces.
In this article, we will illustrate these two aspects in a specific example : the
case of atomic clocks and the ACES mission [5]. We first briefly review the
main methods for cooling atomic gases. We then introduce the principle of an
atomic clock and discuss the advantages of space. The current PHARAO and
ACES projects which will fly on the ISS in 2005 are then described. Finally we
outline some perspectives for cold atoms for other future space missions.

2) Cooling methods
1) Laser cooling
In laser cooling experiments, photons are used to exert forces on the atoms :
when an atom absorbs or emits a photon, its speed changes so that the total
(atom+photon) momentum is conserved. This change is called the recoil
velocity and is usually very small : for cesium atoms illuminated with light at a
wavelength of 0.852 micrometer, the recoil velocity is 3.5 millimeters per
second. However the atom is able to absorb and emit at a rate which is typically
10 million times per second so that the net force that a laser beam can exert on
an atom can be very large, exceeding typically the force of gravity by five orders
of magnitude. This force exerted by a laser beam is called radiation pressure.
Cooling a gas of atoms consists in reducing the thermal fluctuations of the
atoms velocity around their mean velocity.This mean velocity can be zero : the
gas is at rest in the laboratory. In the case of an atomic beam, the mean velocity
is non zero and can be adjusted. Several laser cooling mechanisms have been
invented and the simplest of them is called Doppler cooling because it relies on
the Doppler effect. It was proposed by T. Hnsch and A. Schawlow in 1975 [6].
The atoms are illuminated by two counterpropagating lasers of equal intensities
and same frequency L (Figure 2 a).

Laser

Atom
v

Figure 2: (a) Principle of laser cooling. Two counterpropagating laser beams

exert a radiation pressure force on an atom. When the atom moves, because of
the Doppler effect, the laser which opposes the atoms velocity has a larger
radiation pressure than the beam which co-propagates with the atom. Therefore
the atoms velocity is damped. If this beam configuration is used along three
ortogonal directions of space, all three velocity components are damped. This is
an optical molasses where atoms are viscously confined.
The frequency of the lasers is chosen slighly below the frequency at which the
atoms absorb when they are at rest. When an atom moves, it sees the frequency
of the laser propagating against its motion up-shifted (just as a the sound of a
police car coming towards you has a higher pitch) and it absorbs photons from
this wave. Conversely, the atom sees the laser beam which propagates in the
same direction with a frequency which is down-shifted (more red) : the atom
absorbs then much less photons from this beam. Thus the net misbalance
between the two radiation pressures leads to a slowing of the atom. This
mechanism is very efficient and when the laser beams are oriented along the
three directions of space the atoms are rapidly cooled and viscously confined
within the laser beams ; they form an optical molasses. The average speed of
the atoms is then damped to about ten centimeters per second. At this stage an
even more efficient cooling mechanism takes over (Sisyphus cooling) and
lowers the speed to a mere 1centimeter per second corresponding to a
temperature of about one microKelvin [1].
An interesting variant of optical molasses combines the previous cooling force
with a trapping force. It is called the magneto-optical trap and is the work horse
in cold atom manipulation [7]. If one adds to the molasses an inhomogeneous

Figure 2b: a magneto-optical trap.

In this glass cell, the red ball at
center is the fluorescence of 1
billion atoms cooled and trapped by
six laser beams. The two white rings
hold the magnetic field coils.

magnetic field created by two coils located on each side of the experimental cell,
for a suitable choice of the laser beam polarizations, a restoring force can be
created which attracts the atoms toward the point where the magnetic field is
zero, at the center of the laser beams. This force accumulates the atoms in a ball
of a few cubic millimeters ( Figure 2 b) at a temperature of a few microdegrees
Kelvin.

2) Evaporative Cooling
Cooling of dilute gases has been pushed even further by a totally different
technique, well known to everybody willing to drink a cup of coffee which is
too hot ! To cool down the coffee, you blow air on it ! This cooling is not due to
the difference in temperature between the air and the coffee but to the
evaporation of the coffee which is enhanced by blowing on it. Removing a
molecule from the liquid takes up energy which is taken from the remaining
liquid. The liquid then cools down. The cooling process for atoms is similar
[8] : the atoms are confined in a magnetic trap in which they oscillate and
collide with other trapped atoms. The magnetic trap has a bowl-shaped potential
which possesses a minimum and rims at a finite height. If one reduces the height
of the rims to a value which slightly exceeds the average kinetic energy of the
atoms, the fastest atoms escape from the bowl while the remaining atoms
rethermalize by collisions to a temperature that is lower than the initial
temperature. One can show that, despite of the loss of atoms in this process, the
density of atoms at the trap center increases and the temperature continuously
decreases. Typically a factor of ten decrease in atom number brings a factor of
ten reduction in temperature. Using this method, in 1995 the group of E. Cornell
and C. Wieman at JILA and the university of Colorado (USA) succeeded in
producing a very peculiar new state of matter : a Bose-Einstein condensate of
rubidium atoms [9].

3) Bose-Einstein condensation and atom lasers

According to quantum mechanics, to each particle of matter one can associate a
wave. The period of this wave is inversely proportional to the particles
velocity v and is called the de Broglie wavelength :DB= h/Mv . Here h is
Plancks constant and M the mass of the particle. When the velocity of the
particle becomes very low as obtained by laser and evaporative cooling
methods, the de Broglie wavelength can exceed 1 micrometer, the typical
wavelength of visible light. In 1925, inspired by the work of the young Bengali
physicist S. Bose, A. Einstein predicted an extraordinary property for a gas of
identical particles at low temperature and high density in a confining box:
When the mean separation between the particles becomes on the order of

their de Broglie wavelength, then a large fraction of the atoms condense in the
lowest energy state of the system, the state with zero velocity if the size of the
box becomes arbitrarily large. In the magnetic trap of the JILA experiment,
about 100 000 rubidium atoms have condensed in the lowest state of the trap
forming a macroscopic quantum system at almost zero temperature. In a BoseEinstein condensate, all atoms occupy the same quantum state : they behave
exactly in the same manner. By switching off the trap, the condensed atoms are
easily seen by laser imaging as they correspond to a peak of ultra-cold atoms on
a background of uncondensed atoms ( figure 3).

Figure 3: Velocity distribution of a Bose-Einstein condensate of Rubidium

atoms. The condensate is in blue and the non condensed atoms form the green
piedestal. At very low temperature only the condensate subsists. (Courtesy of
Ecole Normale Suprieure, Paris).
Condensates possess very peculiar quantum properties which are now actively
investigated by more than 50 groups in the world. They have interesting
coherence properties which, in some aspects, are analogous to that of lasers : in
a laser, a very large number of photons occupy the same mode of the
electromagnetic field and this property is at the origin of the high brightness and
low divergence of laser beams. Atom lasers have just been produced and figure
1 shows an atom laser developped by a group of the university of Munich led
by prof . Hnsch [2]. The very low divergence of the beam of atoms extracted
from a rubidium condensate is clearly visible on the figure. As mentioned above
the main problem of these atom lasers on earth is that, as soon as the atoms
leave the trap, they are accelerated by gravity and acquire very quickly a large
speed. Obviously the microgravity of space should be able to help solving some
of the fundamental questions that these quantum systems offer. A second
difficulty is the relatively low flux of atoms which a condensate can currently
6

produce : typically a condensate of one million atoms is produced in 30 seconds.

If you wish to deposit these atoms on a square of 1 cm2 , this will require about
30 years ! New methods to improve this situation are actively investigated and
evaporation ramps below one second have recently been achieved [10]. As for
lasers, one can expect a considerable gain in output flux in the coming years.

4) Atomic Clocks
Since the early days of atom manipulation using laser light, it was recognized
that the very low velocities of laser cooled atoms would benefit to atomic
clocks. As illustrated in figure 4, in an atomic clock a very stable radiofrequency source is used to probe a transition between two energy levels in an
atom. Since 1967, the primary time standard relies on cesium atoms and the
atomic transition is between two hyperfine states of the electronic ground-state.

ATOM

E2

RADIATION

h 0 = 2 1

E1

Cs

1/t

Ramsey method

1/2T
Cs

Figure 4 :
Principle of an atomic clock. An electromagnetic radiation of frequency is
tuned near the atomic frequency 0 and transfers atom from the ground state
E1 to the excited state E2 . The width of the resonance curve is inversely
7

proportional to the duration t that the atoms spend in the interaction zone with
the radiation. The method proposed by N. Ramsey uses two separated zones. In
this case, the width of the resonance is inversely proportional to the time of
flight T of the atoms between the two zones. Slow atoms produce longer T.
By definition the frequency of this transition is = 9 192 631 770 Hertz and the
Second is simply the inverse of the Hertz. When the radio-frequency is scanned
around the atomic transition, it excites the atoms and one obtains a resonance
curve. The narrower the resonance curve the better will be the clock and in
practice, the radio-frequency is electronically locked to the peak of the
resonance. As the width of this resonance is simply the inverse of the time taken
by the atoms to cross the radiofrequency interaction zone, slow atoms will allow
longer transit times and a narrower width. Commercial clocks use atoms at an
average speed of 100 meter per second. Laser cooled cesium atoms move at a
speed of 1 centimeter per second : the gain in interaction time for a fixed length
of the device could reach a factor 10 000 ! Because of gravity, on Earth this
gain is only 100 and one uses a fountain geometry as shown in figure
5[11,12]. In space, a gain of another factor of 10 is expected.

Figure 5 : An atomic fountain. Cesium atoms are cooled to 1 micro degree

Kelvin and launched upwards at a velocity of 4 meters per second. They cross
twice a microwave cavity fed with a frequency close to the hyperfine transition
frequency in cesium, once on the way up, once on the way down. The time
separation between the two interactions with the microwave field is about 0.5
second. Atoms which are excited by the field are detected below by a laser
beam in which they fluoresce.
Atomic fountains have already improved the accuracy of the atomic time by a
factor of ten and rapid progress on the stability and accuracy are currently
expected [13]. The best fountains have a relative frequency instability of only
6 part in 1016 [14]. This means that these clocks make an error of about 1 second
every 50 million years ! Today, 10 atomic fountains are in operation worldwide
and about 20 others are under construction.

6) Atomic Clocks in microgravity : PHARAO

In an atomic fountain, gravity obviously imposes a limit to the interaction time
which is on the order of 1 second. Increasing this duration by a factor of ten
imposes a clock height of 125 meters, a size which is not realistic, considering
technical aspects such as shielding of residual magnetic fields and thermal
stability. On the contrary, in microgravity, long interaction times can be
achieved in a reduced volume [15]. It suffices to launch the atoms slowly in the
clock device. One returns to the scheme of normal clocks of figure 4 but with a
launch velocity 1000 times smaller. The principle of
the PHARAO
microgravity clock is described in figure 6 and the resonance curves in a
conventional clock, a cold atom fountain and a microgravity clock are compared
in figure 7. It illustrates clearly the gain in resolution made possible by laser
cooling and microgravity environment.

Figure 6 :
Principle of PHARAO , a cold atom clock in microgravity.
An optical bench (top) provides light to a cesium tube for cooling and detecting
the atoms using optical fibers. Atoms are collected in optical molasses in a first
chamber (left), cooled below 1 microKelvin and launched into a second
chamber. They enter a cavity in which they experience the two successive
Ramsey interactions with a microwave field tuned near the 9.192 631 770 Hz
cesium frequency. Atoms excited by this field are detected downstream by
fluorescence. The resonance signal is used to lock the oscillators central
frequency to the cesium transition. For a launch velocity of 5 cm/s , the
expected resonance width is 0.1 Hz, ten times narrower than in Earth fountains.

10

Figure 7 : Interest of cold atoms in microgravity.

(a) measured resonance signal in a conventional thermal beam cesium clock.
The resonance width is 100 Hz. (b) measured resonance signal with laser cooled
atoms in a fountain ; width : 1 Hz. (c) Expected signal in PHARAO clock for a
launch velocity of 5cm/s ; width : 0.1 Hz.
The
relative frequency stability of the PHARAO clock onboard the
International Space Station (ISS) is expected to be better than 10-13 for one
second measurement time, 3 10-16 for one day and 1 10-16 for ten days. This is
three orders of magnitude beyond the clocks which are currently flying in GPS
satellites. A prototype of a cold atom clock developped by french laboratories
with CNES support has been tested in the reduced gravity of jet plane parabolic
flights in 1997 (figures 8 and 9 ) [16]. This prototype is now a transportable
cold atom clock with an accuracy of 1 10-15 , presently the best accuracy among
atomic clocks [17]. The satellite version of PHARAO, developed by CNES, has
entered in industrial development in June 2001.

11

Figure 8:
The PHARAO
prototype under
test in parabolic
flights in the
Zero G Airbus, in
1997.

Figure 9 :
The cesium tube of PHARAO.
Bottom:cooling
zone, middle:interaction zone,
top: detection zone and
vacuum pump.
Total length : 1m.
12

7) ACES : Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space

7.1 The ACES mission
PHARAO has been proposed to the European Space Agency in 1997 in the
frame of a more general mission, ACES [6]. ACES has been selected by ESA to
fly on the International Space Station (ISS) in the frame of its early utilization.
The initial ACES payload consisted of two clocks, PHARAO (developed by
CNES) and a hydrogen maser (SHM developed by Neuchtel observatory,
Switzerland), together with optical (T2L2) and microwave (MWL)
communication links for time and frequency transfer to users on the Earth
(figure 10).
Both links are high performance systems designed to be able to communicate
the very high stability of the space clocks to the ground without the degradation
induced by propagation through the atmosphere. The projected performance of
the links is a time stability below 10 picoseconds over one day, more than two
orders of magnitude beyond the present GPS timing signal accuracy.
ACES
ACES :
New clocks on board the ISSA

PHARAO

k
lin
vea
w ways
otw

H-MASER

LA
SE
R

LI
NK
30
(T
ps
2L
/d
ay
2)

Universal time reference

Worldwide access
Validation of space clocks
Fundamental Physics tests

Figure 10 : Principle of ACES

13

The optical communication link is developed by the observatory of cte d'azur

and CNES (FR). Its name is T2L2 (Time Transfer by Laser Link).
T2L2 is based on laser pulses which are synchronized to a ground clock and
emitted using a telescope towards the satellite. The arrival time of the laser
pulses are dated onboard the ISS and part of the light is retroreflected towards
the emitting ground station by cornercubes located on the ACES platform. The
retroreflected signal is also dated in the ground clock time scale. This round-trip
of the light pulses enables one to cancel the fluctuations of the atmosphere in the
comparison between the ground time scale and the ISS time scale. The
microwave link is a system which transmits high frequency microwave signals
between the Earth and the ISS. As for T2L2, these signals are synchronized to
the ground and space clocks respectively and allow one to compare these clocks.
Contrarily to the optical link which cannot operate by cloudy conditions, the
microwave link is weather independent.
These equipments will fit on a nadir oriented express pallet of dimensions
863 : 1168 : 1240 mm attached to the European Columbus module. The total
mass will not exceed 227 kg and the electrical power 500 Watts. A mock-up of
the ACES pallet is shown in figure 11.

T2L

POD
MWL

POD

T2L2

PHARAO

Tube

PHARAO optics

PHARAO USO

14

Figure 11 : Mock-up of the ACES platform

7.2 ACES scientific objectives

Scientific objectives of ACES are both of technical and fundamental nature.
The first objective is to operate the PHARAO clock at the level of performance
mentioned above ( frequency stability better than 3 10-16 for one day ) and to

-12

10

SHM
PHARAO

-13

10

-14

10

y( )
-15

10

-16

10

-17

10

10

10

10

10

(s)

10

10

10

1 day

Figure 12 : Expected Allan standard deviation of PHARAO and SHM on the ISS
make frequency comparisons onboard the ISS between the two types of atomic
clocks, PHARAO and SHM. While the SHM operation is not affected by the
effect of the reduced gravity, PHARAO operation takes advantage of the
reduced gravity environment. The expected frequency stability of PHARAO
and SHM in ACES as a function of averaging time is depicted in figure 12.
Between 10 seconds and 103 seconds the maser stability is better than that of
PHARAO while beyond 103 the reverse is true. Thanks to its excellent medium
term stability, SHM will be used for the evaluation of some frequency shifts
15

affecting PHARAO accuracy such as the collisional shift, micro-wave cavity

phase shift, magnetic field shift,
The second objective is to use the very high stability of the PHARAO-SHM
combined time scale onboard the ISS to perform time comparisons between
ground clocks with a precision of 30 picoseconds through the communication
links, T2L2 and MWL. This represents an improvement over the best current
GPS comparisons by a factor of 100. Frequency comparisons between these
clocks will be performed with a relative accuracy of 10-16 while present
frequency comparisons between distant clocks have not been performed below
10-15 [18].
The third objective is to perform several fundamental physics tests with
increased precision. The gravitational red-shift will be measured with 3 10-6
accuracy, a 25-fold improvement over the NASA 1976 Gravity Probe A
mission [4]. A better tests of the isotropy of speed of light and a new search for
a possible drift of one of the fundamental physical constants, the fine structure
constant, alpha, will also be performed. These test are detailed below in section
7.4 after a short description of the requirements associated with the
communication links .

7. 3 Time and frequency transfer between ISS and Earth

a) Required T&F link performance
In order to perform time and frequency comparisons between space-clocks
and Earth-based clocks, ACES T&F links must exhibit a very low phase noise
compatible with the clock stability of 10-16. The acceptable degradation
introduced by the links is assumed to be less than 20 % of the ISS clock
stability, and the required time fluctuations expected for T2L2 and MWL as a
function of the integration time are presented in Figure 13.

16

100
MWL
T2L2
10

x( )
1

(ps)
0,1

0,01
0
10

10

10

10

(s)

10

10

10

1 day

Figure 13: Expected time fluctuations for MWL and T2L2

Two caracteristic times are important in these comparisons :

300 s, which is the mean duration of an ISS pass over a given point on Earth.
Depending on the elevation of the ISS above the horizon for a given ground
terminal, the duration of contact between ISS and the ground terminal will be
between 250 and 500 seconds per orbital period. The T&F links must exhibit
rms time fluctuations below 0.3 ps over 300 s.
90 min, which is the ISS orbital period. The dead time between two
successive comparison sessions will be about 90 min. Depending on the
longitude of the groud terminal and the minimum elevation at which spaceground connection can be made , between 3 and 6 frequency comparison
sessions per day will occur. Larger dead times may also occur. This requires
a T&F link with a very good long term time stability, typically better than 6
ps over 1 day and the capability to recover the phase of the transmitted signal
from one ISS path to the next.
b) The optical link : T2L2
T2L2 is designed by the Observatoire de la Cte dAzur (OCA-CERGA)
with the technical and financial support of CNES.
The operation principle of T2L2 is simple. A laser station on the ground
emits short light pulses towards the ISS. On the ACES payload, part of the laser

17

pulse is detected and part is reflected towards the ground terminal with a corner
cube reflector. For each pulse, three datations are performed :
date T0 of pulse emission from the ground terminal (date in ground clock
time scale)
date T1 of pulse detection on the ACES payload (date in space clock time
scale)
date T2 of reflected pulse detection at the ground terminal (date in ground
time scale).
The comparison of ground and space clock time scales relies on the
knowledge of the ensemble of date triplets (T1, T2, T3) corresponding to a large
number of detected laser pulses. The Two-way operation of T2L2 (up and
down link) rejects many common mode noise sources, especially the
tropospheric delay. The ionospheric delay is extremely small at optical
frequencies and is also cancelled by this Two-Way scheme. Fluctuations of
instrumental delays are the main noise sources in T2L2. Preliminary
experiments have been already carried out at OCA and have demonstrated
instrumental delay fluctuations with time standard deviation x at the required
picosecond level between 100 and several thousand seconds.
c) The microwave link : MWL
No existing microwave link (GPS, TWSTFT) can reach today the required
performance for ACES. In 1999, ESA initiated two independent industrial
studies for the development of a new microwave link with adequate
performance for ACES. Two different concepts have been proposed by two
compagnies which have already a long experience in T&F transfer techniques :
Timetech, in Germany (designer of PRARE and SATRE systems) and ThalsDetexis in France (designer of T2L2 datation device). Both proposals share a
common point: unlike the GPS system where ground equipments are only
receivers, the proposed methods are two-way systems in which the ground
terminal both emits and receives microwave signals in order to remove first
order Doppler and tropospheric fluctuations. In essence they are upgraded
versions of the Vessot Two-Way technique used for the GP-A experiment in
1976 [4]. In this pionneering experiment, a two-way link with 3 frequencies in S
band (one signal up, two signals down) allowed the frequency comparison
during two hours between two H-masers (one on the ground and one in a
sounding rocket) at the level of 8. 10-15 at 1000 seconds. This Two-Way / 3
frequencies method allowed :
the complete rejection of tropospheric delay and 1rst order Doppler effect
a partial rejection of ionospheric delay ; the up and down frequency are not
equal to avoid interference effects and they do not lead to equal ionospheric
delays. The evaluation of this residual ionospheric delay required the
knowledge of the ionosphere Total Electronic Content (TEC) which was
evaluated using the second down link at different frequency.
18

Vessots technique was a frequency comparison technique : it required the

clocks to be in permanent visibility during the comparison. Moreover, it did not
offer multi-user capability which is mandatory for ACES mission to allow
common view comparisons of ground clocks.
The two MWL concepts proposed for ACES are improved versions of
Vessots technique and their main characteristics are (see Table 1) :
the carrier frequency fc is increased to Ku band (about 15 GHz) ; this leads to
a noticeable reduction of the inospheric delay which varies as 1/(fc)2.
Timetech technique uses a third frequency in S band to determine ionosphere
TEC. In Thals technique, up and down links have the same frequency : the
ionospheric delay is thus completely rejected by the two-way scheme.
the operation of Timetech system is continuous whereas Thals one is pulsed
to avoid interference effects (equal up and down link frequencies)
a Pseudo random modulation code is used to remove 2 phase ambiguity
between two successive comparisons sessions separated by large dead times.
This code modulation is applied to the phase (Timetech) or the amplitude
(Thals) of the carrier.
both systems allow multi-user capability : different ground users are
distinguished by different codes and different Doppler shifts.

Concep t
Carrier
frequen
cy
-

Thals
Timetech
Technique
Technique
Two-Way
- Two-Way
(up and
(up and
down link)
down link)
3
- 1 frequency
frequencies
Ku
band
(one up and - Ku band
one
down
link)
S band (one
down link)
for
TEC
determinatio
n
Continuous
Pulsed

Operati
on
mode
PNon carrier phase on
carrier
code
of Ku and S amplitude
signals
19

Code
rate

- 100 Mchip/s
for
Ku
signals
- 1 Mchip/s
for S signal
Multi- YES (4
users
simultaneous
capabili users)
ty

- 100 MHz

YES (2
simultaneous
users)

Table 1 Main characteristics of proposed

MWL concepts
Relativistics effects affecting time or frequency transfer (gravitational shift, 2nd
order Doppler effect, Sagnac effect, ) will be corrected using the orbitography
data. Preliminary studies have already been performed on these two MWL
concepts. Today they bring sufficient confidence in the feasibility of this high
stability microwave T&F link for ACES. ESA selection of the industrial
contractor for MWL will occur in october 2001.

Orbitography requirements
The Scientific objectives of ACES rely on comparisons between clocks in space
and clocks on the ground. As the separation between the two clocks in on the
order of 400 kms, relativistic effects occuring in the comparison can exceed
10-11, five orders of magnitude above the expected clock stability and accuracy.
Thus a precise knowledge of the orbit of the ISS is required because both the
gravitational potential seen by the clocks and the ISS altitude and velocity are
involved in the calculation of these relativistic effects. A relativistic theory for
time and frequency transfer to order c-3 order has recently been developped to
provide a time-keeping accuracy of the order of 5 10-17 in fractional frequency
[19,20].These two papers show that currently known relativistic corrections to
order c-2 for frequency transfer (first and second order Doppler contributions,
Einstein gravitational red-shift) are not sufficient at this frequency stability
level. At third order, the standard formula is modified by a simple correction
factor involving the first order Doppler effect. It is also shown that at the level of
5 10-17, this third order calculation is sufficient.
In a geocentric isotropic inertial (non rotating) reference frame (GRS), the
!
fractional frequency difference between the space clock (coordinate w S , velocity
!
! !
v S ) and a ground clock ( w E , v E ) measured on the ground by a two-way
frequency transfer is given by:
20

! !
vE vS
f
1
!
!
= 2 U E ( wS ) + U E ( wE )
f
c
2

! !
! !
! vS v E
rSE aE (1 + nSE .
)
c

where UE is the gravitational potential at clock locations (with U O following

the International Astronomical Union convention). UE(wS) is the Earth
!
gravitational potential applied to the ISS clock at the coordinate position w S in
!
the GRS. UE( w E ) is the Earth gravitational potential applied to the clock on the
!
ground located at the coordinate position w E in the GRS. c is the velocity of the
!
!
light, v E is the GRS cooordinate velocity of the clock on ground, v S is the GRS
!
coordinate velocity of the ISS clock. rSE is the range between the ground clock

and the space clock, nSE a unit vector along rSE and a E is the Earth acceleration
in the GRS.
!
!
The first term of equation (1) [ U E ( wS ) + U E ( wE )] c 2 is the red-shift effect
(Einstein effect) induced by of the Earth gravitational potential. As the ISS is a
low orbiting satellite, the influence of other bodies (e.g. the Moon) is negligible
at the expected 10-17 level. For an ISS orbit of 400 km, this term is +4.6 10-11.
The second term - v! E v! S 2 2c 2 describes the second order Doppler effect
between two moving clocks and has a value of 3.3 10-10.
The third term (!rSE .a! E ) c 2 includes the effect of the rotation of the Earth
(Sagnac 1/c2 effect). It is maximal for a ground station on the equator and is
lower than 7 10-13. The last term [1 + c1.!rSE .(v!S v! E ) / rSE ] does not appear at order 1/c2
and was not known before. This c-1 correction term can be interpreted as a
Doppler correction to the three relativistic terms in equation (1). During the twoway frequency comparison, this correction is maximum at low elevation and
antisymetric around zenith. Its magnitude is smaller than 2.7 10-5 or 1.2 10-15 in
relative frequency. For frequency comparisons at 10-16 this correction must be
taken into account and it is sufficient to calculate its value at the 5 % level.
In order to evaluate the relativistic frequency shifts with a precision
compatible with clock stability and accuracy, the whole orbit of both ground and
space clocks must be known with uncertainties lower than :
1.7 m (averaged over 1 day) for the altitude
1.9 mm .s-1 (averaged over 1 day) for the velocity
For a single ISS path of mean duration 300 s, these uncertainties must be less
than 24 m for the altitude and 26 mm .s-1 for the velocity.
These orbitography requirements are currently easily fulfilled with
DORIS and GPS devices but on satellites which are considerably smaller than
the ISS . The orbitography models apply to the satellite center of gravity where,
for instance, the air drag is modelled. As the orbitography requirements apply to
the clock location and not the COG, the knowledge of ISS attitude and structural
deformations will be needed .
21

7.4 ACES science objectives

The first part of ACES mission will be a 6 months characterization phase:
performance evaluation of the clocks and T&F links. Then, the utilization
phase (12 to 30 months duration) will take place. ACES user groups have
identified experiments in the following domains :
physics of cold atoms
relativistic effects
precise orbit determination
laser time transfer
microwave link technologies
T&F metrology
geodesy
earth observation
Thanks to its 51 degree orbit inclination, the ISS will fly above most primary
time and frequency metrology laboratories worldwide. Thus ACES has obvious
objectives in T&F metrology: comparisons between primary standards,
comparisons between clocks in the microwave domain and in the optical
domain, time scales, ). ACES tests in Fundamental Physics play a
fundamental role and are further detailed below.

a) Measurement of the gravitational frequency shift

As outlined above in the time and frequency transfer section, a direct
consequence of Einsteins equivalence principle, is that a source of radiation in a
gravitational potential Us appears to an observer in a different gravitational
potential Uo shifted in frequency by an amount f/f = -U/c2 where U=Us-Uo
is the gravitational potential difference between the source s and the
observer o positions. Pound and Rebka made a direct laboratory
determination of this effect in 1960 using the Mossbauer effect. The result
confirmed the prediction of general relativity to within +/-1%. The most
precise measurement of this gravitational shift is presently the Gravitational
Probe A experiment performed in 1978 by Vessot, Levine and colleagues [4].
The ACES red-shift measurement will use a different technique. Instead of
modulating the red shift by changing the altitude of satellite as done in GP A,
ACES will use the high accuracy of the PHARAO clock ( 10-16) and ground
clocks (10-16 or better) to make an absolute measurement of the frequency
difference between PHARAO and ground cesium fountains. Knowing precisely
the orbital parameters of the space station (position and velocity), the frequency
difference between the ground clocks and the PHARAO clock will be calculated
and compared to theory. As the ISS orbit slowly changes as a function of time,
22

the gravitational redshift will also be modulated but only by about 10% of its
magnitude. If both the ground and space clocks used in the frequency
comparison have an accuracy of 10-16 and, if the link does not degrade clock
performance, the Einstein effect can be determined with a relative uncertainty of
3 10-6. This represents a factor 25 improvement over the GPA experiment.
b) Search for a possible time variation of the fine structure constant
The fine structure constant = e 2 4 0 "c =1/137.0359895(61) characterises
the strength of the electromagnetic interaction in an atom or a molecule.
In 1937 Dirac suggested that it was worth checking if the fundamental
constants of physics were indeed constant in time and a great deal of effort has
been devoted to this goal with increasing precision. In General Relativity as in
other metric theories of gravitation, a time change of non-gravitational constants
is forbidden. This is a direct consequence of Einsteins equivalence principle.
However a number of modern theories predict the existence of new interactions
which violates Einstein's equivalence principle. Damour and Polyakov for
instance predict time variation of fundamental constants and in particular of the
fine structure constant [21].
Among the numerous experiments designed to check the equivalence
principle, methods utilising space (STEP, MICROSCOPE), and stable clocks
have a long history. The high stability and accuracy of ACES clocks and cold
atom ground clocks makes the search for a drift in with atomic frequency
standards a promising route. As compared to astrophysical tests such as the
absorption of quasar light by interstellar clouds [22] or the Oklo test [23],
laboratory tests can be repeated in different locations and cross-checked to a
relatively high degree. In addition these test check the stability of a at the
present time.
The principle underlying these tests involves the comparison of the frequencies
given by clocks using different elements as a function of time. Any change of
the frequency difference between two clocks might be attributed to a change of
fundamental constants or to imperfections in long term behaviour of the clocks.
Therefore to make a convincing test, it is mandatory to involve a large number
of clocks and to make cross-correlation between the measurements. ACES will
provide access to a large number of laboratories world-wide. This will involve
clocks operating with many different atoms, e.g. cesium, rubidium, hydrogen,
mercury ion, ytterbium ion, etc, etc. These frequency standards operate either in
the microwave domain (caesium and rubidium fountains, H, Hg+, Yb+, Cd+,...)
or in the visible part of the spectrum.
For an alkali atom with atomic number Z and having an hyperfine transition in
the microwave domain, Prestage et al [24] calculated the effect of a possible
drift of upon the hyperfine energy as a function of Z. The calculation showed
23

that relativistic corrections to the hyperfine energy become important for high Z
values and can be as large as 40% of the main effect. If one makes the ratio
between the hyperfine energies of two (or more) atoms having very different Z
numbers, one finds the sensitivity of the test of the constancy of . For instance,
if (d/dt)/ = 1. 10-14/year, then a frequency drift of 1.4 10-14/year would occur
between a cesium clock (Z=55) and a mercury ion clock (Z=80). For cesium and
rubidium (Z=35) this figure is 0.45 10-14/year. The best laboratory experiment
to date is based on the comparison between cesium and rubidium fountains and
gives the upper limit for (d /dt)/ < 6.9 10-15/year [25]. Since both the ACES
cesium clock and ground rubidium clocks have a projected accuracy of 10-16,
any frequency drift can be determined with a resolution as low as 2 .10 16 / year
giving an improvement of a factor 20 / year. For a 3 year mission the gain
would be close to 100. The Z dependence means that the signature of a drift of
, if found, would be unambiguous. Such a discovery would constitute a major
breakthrough and have profound implications on our understanding of the laws
of physics.
c) Test of special relativity
A number of relativity theories allow for violations of special relativity (see [26]
for a review). Such theories all postulate some universal rest frame in which
the basic postulates of special relativity are valid : in particular, slow clock
transport and Einstein synchronization procedures [27] for distant clocks are
equivalent. In special relativity this is also valid in any inertial frame S moving
at constant velocity v in but this is not the case in some alternative theories.
This implies, for example, that for a light signal transmitted one-way between
two distant points its speed, as measured by clocks that were synchronised using
slow clock transport, is a constant in (i.e. independent of the direction of
signal transmission), but not in S.
For certain types of experiments measuring one way signal transmissions,
a simple test theory based on a parameter c/c is often used. In this
interpretation distant clocks are synchronised in S using slow clock transport. c
is the round trip speed of light (independent of the chosen synchronization
convention) and c the deviation from c of the speed of light in S (measured by
the transport synchronised clocks) for a signal propagating one-way along a
particular direction. The experiments look for a variation of c/c as a function of
the direction of signal transmission in S. In special relativity c/c = 0 which, of
course, reflects the fact that the two synchronization conventions are equivalent.
A number of experiments searching for a non zero value of c/c have been
carried out either by direct measurements of the variation of one way
transmission times of light signals between distant clocks or by indirect
measurements searching for the variation of the first order Doppler shift. The
former used the clocks and time links in the JPL deep space tracking network
24

and the GPS system [28], the latter the first order Doppler effect in Two Photon
Absorption [29], Mssbauer effect [30], and frequency links of the GP-A
experiment [4]. A violation of special relativity is, in this model, linked to a
particular spatial direction (velocity v! of S in ) and the experiments search for
the modulation of the effect as the direction of signal transmission is changed.
Consequently experiments that rely on the rotation of the Earth for a change of
direction are only sensitive to the component of c/c that lies in the equatorial
plane.
The ACES experiment is expected to improve previous limits on c/c by
about one order of magnitude. The experiment will compare the space clocks to
the ground clocks continuously during the passage of ISS. The time transfer link
will consist of microwave signals that are exchanged in both directions between
the clocks. All emission and reception times are measured in the local space
time scale and ground time scale respectively. The difference of the measured
reception and emission times provides the one-way travel time of the signal plus
some unknown but constant offset s due to the fact that the clocks are not
synchronized (by slow clock transport). Thus the difference of the up and down
travel times is sensitive to a non zero value of c/c along a preferred direction
Tup Tdown = s + m + 2

c
T cos
c

where T is half the light round-trip time, is the angle between the link and a
preferred direction, and m are known small corrections due to path
asymmetries, atmospheric delays, etc s is unknown (desynchronization) but
remains constant, so adjusting a cosine to the data over the passage allows the
measurement of c/c.
The sensitivity of the experiment is determined by the instabilities over
one ISS pass of both the clocks and T&F links phase. The value of varies
during successive passes between 1.5 ms and 8 ms. With an overall time
instability over one ISS pass as low as 1 ps, the expected sensitivity to c/c
should be in the low 10-10 region which is an improvement by a factor 10 or
more over previous measurements. Such a performance seems even more likely
when considering that several systematic error sources (atmospheric delay, orbit
accuracy, clock stability) that were likely sources of uncertainty for the GPS
experiment [28] will be negligible for ACES because of the two way systems
used (cancellations between the up and down links) and the high stability of the
ACES clocks.

8) Present status of ACES mission

Due to an excess of mass, some ACES instruments and pieces of equipment
have be descoped in november 2000. The new baseline proposed for ACES
payload includes PHARAO, SHM, MWL and FCDP. The optical link T2L2, the
Magnetic and Microvibration Measurement Device, M3D, and the DORIS
receiver for the orbit determination have been removed. The most severe aspect
25

of this reduction deals with the removal of T2L2. This implies to search for
other flight opportunities for the demonstration of high accuracy time transfer
with light pulses. As microwave time and frequency transfers are done today
only at the 10-15 level, i.e. one order of magnitude below the ACES requirement,
it was considered important to have two independent links to validate the
operation of each of them. The removal of T2L2 will thus suppress this option
and put more pressure on the MWL in terms of performance tests and
reliability. The removal of DORIS orbitography system means that the precise
orbitography needed for ACES must be done using the GPS receivers located on
the ISS.
The payload integration study made by ASTRIUM for the accomodation of the
new ACES payload on the Columbus external plattform has been completed in
July 2001. The study has shown the feasibility of ACES with respect to mass,
electrical power and thermal dissipation with a reasonable margin being
allocated for the development of the various instruments. In June 2001, the
PHARAO instrument entered in industrial development (Phase C/D) and an
engineering model of each of the PHARAO subsystem will be delivered to
CNES at the end of 2002 for assembling. Functional and performance tests will
last about 6 months. The flight model will be delivered at the end of 2003 for
delivery to NASA in the summer of 2004 and launch at the end of 2004. The
SHM development is also in C/D phase. The Invitation to Tender for the MWL
industrial development was issued by ESA in July 2001 and closed early
october 2001. Selection of the industrial company by ESA is due in october
2001. A MWL breadboard demonstrator will be delivered to ESA at the end of
2002. Negociations for the C/D phase of the ACES palett integration are
ongoing between ESA and industry.
Figure 14 illustrates the progress in the last forthy years of atomic clocks in the
microwave and optical domains. In 2005, ACES is likely to be near the
crossing point of microwave and optical clocks, a very interesting situation for
comparing through space these ultra-stable clocks on the ground.

26

ACCURACY OF THE ATOMIC TIME

RELATIVE ACCURACY

1x10

-9

1x10

-10

1x10

-11

1x10

-12

1x10

-13

1x10

-14

10

-15

1x10

-16

10

-17

1950

Microwave clocks
Slope: gain of 10 every 10 years
Optical clocks

NPL
NBS
LSRH

Ca PTB
PTB
NRC
NBS
VNIIFTRI

H MPQ
PTB
NIST

NIST: Hg+
LPTF

ACES
Cold atoms

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

YEAR

Figure 14 : evolution of the accuracy of the atomic time. Comparison between

microwave clocks and optical clocks.

9) Perspectives
PHARAO and ACES will probably constitute the first demonstration of the
benefits of space for cold atomic gases and their application to ultra-stable
atomic clocks. The performances of PHARAO could still be improved by using
a better interrogation oscillator, better microgravity environment than that of
27

2010

the ISS and by replacing cesium atoms by rubidium atoms which display less
collisional interactions. Such perspectives are under development at NASA
(PARCS, SUMO and RACE projects). Frequency stability and accuracy in the
10-17 range can be envisioned. The associated time and frequency transfer
techniques will need to include several higher order relativistic corrections in
order to compare adequately distant clocks. Of particular interest would then be
a clock mission in the strong gravitational potential of the Sun rather than that
of the Earth (SORT project). This mission could bring several orders of
magnitude on tests of general relativity such as the Shapiro delay. Third
generation navigation systems are likely to benefit from advances made on the
time transfer techniques validated with ACES. Totally new concepts for global
positioning systems based on a reduced set of ultra-stable space clocks in orbit
associated with simple transponding satellites could be studied.
More generally, clocks operating in the optical domain rather than in the
microwave domain are making rapid progress on the ground. The frequency of
these clocks is four to five orders of magnitude higher than the frequency of
microwave standards and with an equivalent linewidth, the quality factor of the
resonance exceeds that of cesium clocks by the same factor. Using laser cooled
atoms or ions and ultra-stable laser sources, these optical clocks will likely open
the 10-17--10-18 stability range. In this range, it is clear that fluctuations of the
earth potential at the clock location induced, for instance, by the tides will affect
comparisons between distant clocks. This limitation could be turned into an
advantage if one installs such ultra-stable clock in space where the gravitational
potential can present far reduced fluctuations compared to ground. With
adequate Time and Frequency transfer technique, a new type of geodesy based
on the Einstein effect could be realized. Using the wide frequency comb
generated by femtosecond lasers, it becomes now possible to connect virtually
all frequency standards together throughout the microwave to ultra-violet
frequency domain [31]. The simplicity of this table top frequency chain makes it
conceivable now to qualify it for space.
Clocks are not the only devices which can benefit from space. Atom
interferometers would also increase their sensitivity with increased interaction
times. In these systems, the interference of matter waves rather than light waves
is created, bringing an enormous gain in potential sensitivity over light
interferometers. After just a few years of existence, matter wave gyroscopes on
the ground have now surpassed their optical counterparts in rotation sensitivity.
This opens a whole new field for inertial sensors, accelerometers, gradiometers,
both on Earth and in space. In january 2000, the HYPER project was submitted
to ESA in answer to the call for flexi-missions (F2/F3). HYPER aims at
measuring yet another effect predicted by general relativity, the Lense-Thirring
effect and at measuring the fine structure constant with at least one order of
magnitude gain in precision. HYPER would also be the first satellite to be
monitored by matter-wave inertial sensors rather than classical accelerometers
and gyroscopes. Finally, the technology for producing Bose-Einstein
condensates and atom lasers is also progressing rapidly on the ground.
28

Space would offer the possibility to produce coherent atomic waves in the
picokelvin temperature range. In addition to the interesting fundamental manybody physics that this quantum matter would offer on a truly macroscopic scale
in space, atom lasers would constitute ideal sources for atom interferometers
with long interaction times. Cold atoms open fascinating perspectives for space
applications !
Support by ESA, CNES, CNRS, Region Ile de France, Bureau National de
Metrologie and Paris Observatory is gratefully acknowledged.

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31