[time-nuts] Cs tube pics

[Michael Wouters]

> If i were able to build a working optical clock, i would just buy
> a frequency comb. The 10k€ for a comb would be cheap compared to the
> money spend on the rest of the clock :-)

Hmm, not sure what you're looking at, but I have a commercial erbium
fibre comb in my lab and it cost 250 000 Euro. There are two full
height 19 inch racks full of electronics. It has an extra output for
1000 to 2000 nm though, so you could probably knock 50K off the price
for that.

Another interesting data point: some people I know in a national
measurement lab built and sold a Cs fountain to another lab. The price
was US 2 million and I'm guessing that was "mates' rates".

Cheers
Michael




On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 8:13 AM, Attila Kinali <attila at kinali.ch> wrote:
> On Thu, 3 Nov 2016 07:42:13 +1100
> Michael Wouters <michaeljwouters at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> One other vital component is the flywheel oscillator you need to take
>> advantage of the fabulous stability you now have at hand.We had a cryogenic
>> sapphire oscillator for our (microwave) clock.
>
> Yes, a lot of the optical clocks are using a hydrogen maser as local
> oscillator. Ie you need an atomic clock to build an atomic clock.
>
>
>> For an optical clock, you're also going to need a frequency comb to get
>> back into the RF domain.
>
> If i were able to build a working optical clock, i would just buy
> a frequency comb. The 10k€ for a comb would be cheap compared to the
> money spend on the rest of the clock :-)
>
>                         Attila Kinali
>
>
> --
> Malek's Law:
>         Any simple idea will be worded in the most complicated way.
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