Performance of Soviet and U.S. Hydrogen Masers

Abstract

The frequencies of Soviet- and U.S.-built hydrogen masers located at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and at the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) were compared with each other and, via GPS common-view measurements, with three primary frequency-reference scales. The best masers were found to have fractional frequency stabilities as low as 6x10(-16) for averaging times of approximately 10(4) s. Members of the USNO maser ensemble provided frequency prediction better than 1x10(-14) for periods up to a few weeks. The frequency residuals of these masers, after removal of frequency drift and rate of change of drift, had stabilities of a few parts in 10(-15), with several masers achieving residual stabilities well below 1x10(-15) for intervals from 10(5)s to 2x10(6)s. The fractional frequency drifts of the 13 masers studied, relative to the primary reference standards, ranged from -0.2x10(-15)/day to +9.6 x 10(-15)/day.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA519502

Entities

People

  • Adolf A. Uljanov
  • David W. Allan
  • Edward M. Mattison
  • Gernot M. Winkler
  • Nikolai A. Demidov
  • Robert F. Vessot

Organizations

  • United States Naval Observatory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Atomic Beam Masers
  • Clocks
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Standards
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Hydrogen
  • Intervals
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Measurement
  • Models
  • Observatories
  • Oscillators
  • Residuals
  • Standards
  • Time Intervals
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Technology.
  • Regression Analysis.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Orbital Debris