Dr Schediwy was acknowledged for his outstanding achievements in space research, in particular the use of free-space laser links to send communication and timing signals through the Earth's turbulent atmosphere - and eventually to outer space. Dr Schediwy and his team currently hold the world record for the most stable transmission of laser signals through Earth’s turbulent atmosphere, as demonstrated on a horizontal test link with the equivalent atmospheric turbulence as a link to space. Their developments could enable better time-scale comparison than even the next generation of optical atomic clocks, leading to the establishment of a global optical time-scale comparison network. Such a network would revolutionise applications ranging from physics, such as tests of the General Theory of Relativity and dark matter searches, to science of Earth’s geometry, gravity, satellite navigation and timing, and research into light, radio and sound waves.
