[time-nuts] Re: What to expect from rubidium lock behavior?

[Bob kb8tq]

Hi

Yes, that’s pretty normal operation for any of the telecom Rb’s. They
also typically drift about 1x10^-9 over the first day of operation. It’s
best to leave them running all the time. Second best is to turn them
on a couple days before you need to use them.

Bob

> On Dec 11, 2021, at 2:23 AM, Erik Kaashoek <erik at kaashoek.com> wrote:
> 
> My rubidium frequency standard (Accubeat AR60A) finally got its nice box with good cooling and some LED's showing the status.
> While watching the unlock LED I noticed the AR60 say's it is locked, about 4 or 5 minutes after cold start, when the frequency error jumps below about 1e-8
> It takes 2 or 3 more minutes of slow drift to become stable within 1e-10. Is this to be expected?
> With this locking speed it is tempting to switch off the AR60A unless needed for some measurement. Would daily switching on/off have any impact on lifetime?
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