Picoseconds on Demand: Tiqker Optical Atomic Clock Cruises the Quantum Corridor
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Right on Time: Bringing Picosecond Precision to Live Networks I’m excited to finally get to share that Infleqtion, together with Quantum Corridor, completed a successful live demonstration of a high-performance quantum timing solution for critical networked infrastructure. We ran the test across 22 kilometers of live urban fiber, between Chicago’s ORD10 Data Center and the Digital Crossroad Data Center in Hammond, Indiana and back. Tiqker, Infleqtion’s 3U rack-mounted optical atomic clock, empowered with the White Rabbit time transfer protocol, held picosecond-level synchronization. The system outperformed traditional rack references and GPS-derived time on the short-to-medium timescales that matter for modern network data systems. Figure 1: Tiqker installation in Hammond, Indiana This matters because the future depends on timing that actually matches how fast hardware performs. What we showed is that deterministic, picosecond-class timing can be delivered over existing fiber in real conditions, aligning timing precision with the physical timescales of contemporary optical network hardware. We ran the test in the real world – these aren’t lab numbers. Figure 2: Tiqker units, White Rabbit switches and time distribution installed at Digital Crossroads.
Where Timing Is Everything The potential applications for Tiqker optical atomic clocks are wide-ranging. In data centers and distributed computing, picosecond timing enables precise packet alignment, cutting time buffers and improving throughput. Emerging telecommunications systems using time-sensitive networking require deterministic time, while financial customers gain more accurate timestamps for trading, audit, and model training data. Defense, national security and critical infrastructure customers reduce reliance on GPS-based solutions and more on redundant, on-prem timing. Next generation quantum communications and networking are increasingly in need of the precision sync we demonstrated. From a deployment standpoint, Quantum Corridor’s operational quantum-safe fiber offers a practical route to commercial synchronization services. Tiqker’s roadmap toward compact, low-cost variants enables broader deployment. The work ahead is about integration and proving value: longer duration tests and pilot integrations that quantify application-level gains for AI/ML, telco, finance, defense and networked hybrid quantum computation!
Time Well SpentThis was, honestly, a team win. I’m deeply grateful to our Infleqtion colleagues — Pritesh Solanki, Calvin Cahall, and Torey Caldwell, and to our collaborators at Quantum Corridor, led by Patrick Scully and Bob Reinert, and Safran, including David Sohn and Pablo Azpeitia. Their expertise, persistence, and willingness to do the hard field work made this possible. On my end, I made sure no cups of coffee were left undrunk! Figure 3: The team on the ground in Chicago-land…well, Indiana! Learn more about Tiqker: Download Tiqker spec sheet P.S. I recently presented with Quantum Corridor’s Patrick Scully at Q2B Silicon Valley on this accomplishment in quantum timing. Watch the full presentation below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwueofc-PMo