Demonstration of a dual alkali Rb/Cs fountain clock

Author

Guéna, Jocelyne ; Rosenbusch, Peter ; Laurent, Philippe ; Abgrall, Michel ; Rovera, Daniele ; Santarelli, Giorgio ; Tobar, Michael E. ; Bize, Sébastien ; Clairon, André

Author_Institution

Lab. Nat. de Metrol.-Syst. de Reference Temps Espace (LNE-SYRTE), Obs. de Paris, Paris, France

Volume

57

Issue

3

fYear

2010

fDate

3/1/2010 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

647

Lastpage

653

Abstract

We report the operation of a dual Rb/Cs atomic fountain clock. ¹³³Cs and ⁸⁷Rb atoms are cooled, launched, and detected simultaneously in LNE-SYRTE´s FO2 double fountain. The dual clock operation occurs with no degradation of either the stability or the accuracy. We describe the key features for achieving such a simultaneous operation. We also report on the results of the first Rb/Cs frequency measurement campaign performed with FO2 in this dual atom clock configuration, including a new determination of the absolute ⁸⁷Rb hyperfine frequency.

Keywords

atomic clocks; frequency measurement; hyperfine structure; ¹³³Cs atom; ⁸⁷Rb atom; FO2 double fountain; absolute ⁸⁷Rb hyperfine frequency; dual alkali fountain clock; dual atom clock configuration; frequency measurement; Assembly; Atomic beams; Australia; Clocks; Copper; Fluorescence; Frequency; Physics; Resonance; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-3010

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TUFFC.2010.1461

Filename

5422509