Development of a Conventional Laser-Pumped RB Atomic Clock: Status Report

Abstract

As is well known, the phase fluctuations of a laser can decrease the signal-to-noise ratio of a vapor-cell clock due to laser PM-to-AM conversion. In previous work, we demonstrated an easy means of eliminating this problem: use high-pressure resonance cells so that collisional dephasing keeps the atoms from following the laser's fluctuating phase. Though our phase-1 clock employing a 100 torr N2 cell had excellent short-term performance, the long-term performance left much to be desired, quite likely because the increased pressure in the resonance cell gave the clock a fairly large temperature sensitivity. Here, we discuss our progress towards a phase-2 laser-pumped Rb clock, where the temperature sensitivity will be much reduced.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA485421

Entities

People

  • Carlos Back
  • James Camparo

Organizations

  • Whittier College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Absorption Cross Sections
  • Atomic Clocks
  • Cells
  • Clocks
  • Coefficients
  • Conversion
  • Distributed Feedback Lasers
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Shift
  • High Temperature
  • Intensity
  • Laser Diodes
  • Lasers
  • Random Walk
  • Temperature Coefficients
  • Time Intervals

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Plasma Physics.
  • Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Technology.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Directed Energy - Lasers