First performance results of PTB´s atomic caesium fountain and a study of contributions to its frequency instability

Author

Weyers, Stefan ; Bauch, Andreas ; Hubner, Udo ; Schroder, Roland ; Tamm, Christian

Author_Institution

Phys. Tech. Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig, Germany

Volume

47

Issue

2

fYear

2000

fDate

3/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

432

Lastpage

437

Abstract

At the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), an atomic caesium fountain was constructed. Ramsey fringes with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 0.86 Hz were obtained by launching the atoms to a height of 83 cm above the cooling region (40 cm above the microwave cavity center). A first measurement of the homogeneity of the magnetic flux density yields 0.33 nT (rms), only 0.16% of the mean value of 0.205 /spl mu/T used in normal operation. The inherent elementary noise contributions of the fountain and of a thermal beam atomic clock are compared in some detail.

Keywords

atomic clocks; caesium; frequency stability; frequency standards; Cs; PTB; Ramsey fringes; atomic caesium fountain; frequency instability; frequency standard; laser cooling; magnetic flux density; microwave cavity; noise; thermal beam atomic clock; Atom lasers; Atom optics; Atomic beams; Atomic clocks; Atomic measurements; Cooling; Frequency; Gunshot detection systems; Optical noise; Stationary state;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-3010

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/58.827431

Filename

827431