News 
On October 26th, the Laboratoire Temps-Fréquence (LTF) marked the tenth anniversary of its activities in Neuchâtel with a grand event held at the University.
The proceedings included a formal introductory part with speeches given by several political and scientific personalities, a retrospective conducted by Gaetano Mileti (associate director and cofounder) and Pierre Thoman (first director and cofounder), along with a look at the LTF’s current projects. The latter presentation by Thomas Südmeyer, the current director of the Physics Institute and the Laboratory, provided a chance to deal with the technologies on which scientists are now working and their future applications. The topics covered included ultra-short pulsating lasers, optical-frequency combs and atomic clocks… The afternoon concluded with a round table on the theme “Swiss time and frequency: what challenges does the future hold?” and visitors could also enjoy a tour of the premises.
That evening, a talk given by Dr Solomon (ENS Paris and CNRS) dealt with the measurement of time in the past, present and future. This public lecture was an opportunity to explain the operation of atomic clocks and their applications on earth as well as in space.
A descendant of the former Neuchâtel Canton Observatory, the LTF was founded in 2007 and had a six-strong team at the time. Its staff complement has increased ever since and currently stands at 25. The LTF conducts its activities in the field of atomic clocks with a view to space applications such as the Galileo system, the European GPS. It also develops the primary frequency standard serving as a reference for time in Switzerland, in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Institute for Metrology, METAS. Engaged in a large number of academic and industrial partnerships, the LTF has become an important actor in the domain of high-precision time measurement which involves the development of dedicated lasers.
November 16, 2017