A new microwave synthesis chain for the primary frequency standard NIST-F1

Author

Heavner, T.P. ; Jefferts, S.R. ; Donley, E.A. ; Parker, T.E. ; Levi, F.

Author_Institution

Time & Frequency Div., National Inst. of Stand. & Technol., Boulder, CO

fYear

2005

fDate

29-31 Aug. 2005

Firstpage

308

Lastpage

311

Abstract

We present the design and measurements of the microwave synthesis chain presently used in NIST-F1, the laser-cooled cesium fountain primary frequency standard in operation at NIST, Boulder, CO. The chain has been used in two accuracy evaluations of NIST-F1 (January 2005 and July 2005), each of which had a combined (type A and type B) fractional frequency uncertainty of ~ 0.5 times 10^-15. Additionally, this synthesis chain was in use during a recent calibration of the ¹⁹⁹Hg⁺ optical clock transition against Cs, which had a fractional uncertainty of 9.1 times 10^-16

Keywords

caesium; frequency standards; laser cooling; measurement uncertainty; microwave measurement; Cs; NIST-F1; fractional frequency uncertainty; laser-cooled cesium fountain; microwave synthesis chain; optical clock transition; primary frequency standard; Calibration; Frequency measurement; Frequency synthesizers; Masers; Measurement standards; Mercury (metals); Microwave measurements; NIST; Optical design; Uncertainty;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Frequency Control Symposium and Exposition, 2005. Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Vancouver, BC

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9053-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FREQ.2005.1573950

Filename

1573950