Hi Bob, Yes, it is not at all impossible, but I've never heard of it being done by anyone other than a government funded time lab or a commercial company. For that very reason I looked into this myself ten years ago.
Atomic beam physics is done by some undergraduate students and making a cesium clock out of a senior project is an obvious next step. There are many pieces to the puzzle but none are show-stoppers. The best part is that all the design information one would ever need is in well-written papers and books spanning some 50 years. I dropped the whole idea when 1) I figured it would take 5 to 10 years of my life to do it at home and when 2) dirt cheap surplus cesium standards started showing up on eBay in the late 90's. But if you were to make it your project, you'd certainly end up with a wonderful and wide set of theoretical, technical, and mechanical skills. Before you start consider which atomic method you want to pursue (Cs thermal beam, Rb vapor, or H maser). I chose Cs rather than Rb. Two other guys I've heard from over the years chose to make hydrogen masers (and have made zero progress as far as I know). You also need to decide how pure homebrew you want to make it. With almost all the parts available surplus on eBay you need to decide, for example, if you want to spend a year building your own 9192 MHz microwave synthesizer and wave guide or just buy 'em used for $10. /tvb http://www.LeapSecond.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Aurand" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 07:17 Subject: [time-nuts] homebrew atomic reference oscillator? Asking this question just out of curiosity: Is it at all feasible to home build an atomic standard? I guess it would be Rb and not Cs. What are the difficulties that would be encountered? Bob K3VOT _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list [email protected] https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
