Months-long real-time generation of a time scale based on an optical clock

Abstract

Time scales consistently provide precise time stamps and time intervals by combining atomic frequency standards with a reliable local oscillator. Optical frequency standards, however, have not been applied to the generation of time scales, although they provide superb accuracy and stability these days. Here, by steering an oscillator frequency based on the intermittent operation of a $^{87}$Sr optical lattice clock, we realized an "optically steered" time scale TA(Sr) that was continuously generated for half a year. The resultant time scale was as stable as International Atomic Time (TAI) with its accuracy at the $10^{-16}$ level. We also compared the time scale with TT(BIPM16). TT(BIPM) is computed in deferred time each January based on a weighted average of the evaluations of the frequency of TAI using primary and secondary frequency standards. The variation of the time difference TA(Sr) $-$ TT(BIPM16) was 0.79 ns after 5 months, suggesting the compatibility of using optical clocks for time scale generation. The steady signal also demonstrated the capability to evaluate one-month mean scale intervals of TAI over all six months with comparable uncertainties to those of primary frequency standards (PFSs).