Characterization of the USNO cesium fountain

Author

Ekstrom, Christopher R. ; Burt, Eric A. ; Swanson, Thomas B.

Author_Institution

US Naval Obs., Washington, DC, USA

fYear

2001

fDate

6/23/1905 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

53

Lastpage

56

Abstract

We have performed an initial characterization of the stability of the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) cesium fountain atomic clock. This device has a short-term fractional frequency stability of up to 1.5×10^-13 τ-^1/2. This short-term performance enables us to measure hydrogen maser behavior over the short to medium term. We have recently implemented real time steering of a hydrogen maser with the fountain. Over a period of roughly 9 days of continuous operation, we have steered out the drift of a cavity tuned maser

Keywords

atomic clocks; frequency stability; frequency standards; white noise; Cs; H; USNO timing; cavity tuned maser; cesium fountain atomic clock; continuous operation; drift steering; hydrogen maser behavior; microwave frequency chain; real time steering; short-term fractional frequency stability; white noise; Atomic beams; Atomic clocks; Electromagnetic heating; Fiber lasers; Hydrogen; Magnetic shielding; Masers; Observatories; Optical fibers; Stability;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Frequency Control Symposium and PDA Exhibition, 2001. Proceedings of the 2001 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Seattle, WA

ISSN

1075-6787

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7028-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FREQ.2001.956159

Filename

956159