Optical timekeeping in the field

Optical clocks based on molecular iodine have emerged as an exciting and enabling technology for real world applications, providing a new performance class to the commercial market, and new opportunities for deployment of precision timing systems into the field. Recent field demos with rackmount iodine clocks will be highlighted, exploring the reach of these high performance tools through operation and evaluations in harsh mobile environments. Use in VLBI research with the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration demonstrates that the unique combination of high-performance and fieldability the iodine clocks offer allows immediate adoption and potential improvements in fundamental science applications such as radio astronomy.