Analysis of the light shift effect in the /sup 87/Rb frequency standard

The /sup 87/Rb cell frequency standard, optically pumped by a laser diode, is of great interest in the development of high short-term stability oscillators. We report experiments performed on a rubidium cell prototype aiming at evaluate the transfer of the laser noise to the hyperfine clock transition via the light shift effect, which appears to be the main contribution to the observed short term frequency stability in this kind of standard. Pulsed optical pumping will also be examined in order to strongly reduce the light shift effect and to achieve the theoretical limit never approached up to now despite the strong detected microwave signals.