Thales R&T thus joins nearly forty laboratories connected to REFIMEVE and now has access to the ultra-stable time and frequency signals generated by the Time-Space Laboratory (LTE) at the Paris Observatory. The clock signal is distributed to Paris-Saclay University via the academic fibre-optic network managed by RENATER, and then via the Paris-Saclay University network – via the Institut d’Optique – to Thales R&T.
This partnership between the academic and industrial sectors is a major development that will strengthen and sustain scientific and technological collaborations between Thales R&T and the laboratories leading the REFIMEVE research infrastructure: the Laser Physics Laboratory (CNRS – Sorbonne Paris Nord University) and the Time-Space Laboratory (LTE) (Paris Observatory | PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne University, LNE). The scientific prospects are wide-ranging, from positioning, navigation and time synchronisation (gyroscopes and atomic clocks), frequency stability transfer for quantum RF detection and quantum memories, to distributed fibre-optic detection…
The official opening of this event took place on 29 September 2026 in Palaiseau at the Thales R&T premises, with speeches by the head of the Research Infrastructure Department at the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Space, the Deputy Director-General for Innovation at the CNRS, the President of Sorbonne Paris Nord University, the Director of RENATER, and the Vice-President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Thales Group.