Hi Poul-Henning,
On 05/05/2013 08:29 PM, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
In message<51867df4.4010...@karlquist.com>, "Richard (Rick) Karlquist" writes:
BTW, it is important to understand that
the architecture is the key factor, not the flavor of atom.
Well, somewhat.
Some flavours of atoms don't work with some architectures, so for
most of the stuff in reach for us, the atoms do indeed equate an
architecture.
Well, the basic rule is that you want a single electron, preferably in
the S state in the outermost shell. You can have that either as neutral
atom or ionized. Depending on neutral or ionized you go into the
"classic" or "ion" classes. This is why alkali atoms is so popular, as
group 1 fits the description well in its neutral state.
Another aspect is how you achieve the state imbalance which can be
achieved either by state selection magnets or by pumping. Rubidium has
been selected traditionally because of the suitable spectrum of Rb-85
and Rb-87 isotopes, and that these is relatively easy to come by (both
exist in normal rubidium ore) allowing for simple filtering. Modern
filtering and modern lasers allows a much freer selection.
The exception seems to be fountains, which can run on pretty much
any alkali atom you care to feed it, and some even able to use
both Rb og Cs (Built to nail the Rb frequency firmly down, as
I understand it).
Beam devices has been built for much more than caesium. In the original
conception caesium was fighting with thallium, with thallium actually
being somewhat better, but was judged a bit impractical at the time.
Rubidium was also built as research beam units, but it has higher
sensitivity to magnetic field pulling, which used to be an issue, which
now largely is gone with servo capability.
The fountains is just an evolvement of the beam devices, but the "beam"
falls backwards halfway "through". In the fountain-context rubidium now
has an edge over caesium. What make fountains feasible is the
laser-cooling as it not only allows cooling, but also bouncing around
the ball of atoms.
However, there seems to be actual differences between the flavours
of atoms in fountains, and USNO have picked Rb over Cs because
they get better results that way.
Indeed. Wasn't NPL in UK early out as well?
In the end, the actual atom used for a particular device is a result of
what makes practical engineering at the time and achieving the best
performance.
The optical clocks stretches the imagination even more than ion-traps
ever did, but affordable ion-traps is still very interesting.
Cheers,
Magnus
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