Title :
Reaching a few 10−13 τ−1/2 stability level with the compact cold atom clock HORACE
Author :
Esnault, FX ; Perrin, S. ; Holleville, D. ; Guerandel, S. ; Dimarcq, N. ; Delporte, J.
Author_Institution :
LNE-SYRTE, Obs. de Paris, Paris
Abstract :
HORACE is a compact cold cesium atom clock which is being developed in LNE-SYRTE for space applications and onboard systems. The operation of this clock is different from fountains since the laser cooling, the microwave interrogation and the detection are sequentially performed inside the spherical microwave cavity. The entire simplified operation sequence is described. A short term relative frequency stability of 2.2 10-13 tau-1/2 is achieved. Preliminary results on mid term show that a level of 4 10-15 is reached after 5 103s of integration. Limitations are investigated.
Keywords :
aerospace instrumentation; atomic clocks; laser cooling; laser frequency stability; microwave photonics; HORACE; LNE-SYRTE; cold cesium atom clock; laser cooling; microwave detection; microwave interrogation; onboard systems; relative frequency stability; space applications; spherical microwave cavity; Atomic beams; Clocks; Cooling; Electromagnetic heating; Fiber lasers; Magnetic shielding; Masers; Optical pumping; Optical scattering; Temperature;
Conference_Titel :
Frequency Control Symposium, 2008 IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Honolulu, HI
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1794-0
Electronic_ISBN :
1075-6787
DOI :
10.1109/FREQ.2008.4623024
