[time-nuts] Re: Creating a D.I.Y Rubidium Atomic Clock

[Stephen C. Menasian]

I would suspect that indium is not suitable. The easiest elements to pump
optically are the alkali metals, due to their strong D lines which allow
the ground state atoms to absorb the appropriate radiation strongly,
thus, enabling the optical pumping effect.

On Wed, 7 Jun 2023 22:37:42
+0200 Marek Doršic via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:

> Certainly interesting topic. Rb provides a safe approach. However, I am
> curious to know if anyone has explored the possibility of using other
> elements, specifically Indium?
> 
>    .md
> 
> > On 7 Jun 2023, at 20:37, djl via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com>
> > wrote:
> > 
> > The Rb capsules are available on ebay, eg:  124012486501
> > the classblowing part is done?
> > 
> > On 2023-06-07 07:50, Richard (Rick) Karlquist via time-nuts wrote:  
> >> On 6/7/2023 5:03 AM, Stephen C. Menasian via time-nuts wrote:  
> >>> 1) some pure Rb87
> >>> 2) a glass blowing setup (and some skill)
> >>> 3) A selection of inert gasses (at least including Ar)
> >>> 4) Light source (Rb discharge was used then with a circular
> >>> polarizer;  
> >> At HP we had really skilled glass blowers, with specific experience
> >> in making Rb glassware.  We had to use an exotic grade of glass that
> >> was only one step removed from fused quartz.  It had a part number
> >> that I don't remember.  Very difficult to work with.
> >> The Rb lamp (one of three pieces of glassware) is very tricky to work
> >> with.  We used a resonant coil driven at 95 MHz at several watts.
> >> The trick is to "strike" the plasma and make the lamp light up;
> >> you can at least see visible light when that happens. I spent a
> >> lot of time fooling with it.  We never got it to work as
> >> well as the 5065 lamp.
> >> BTW, one of the Rb isotopes is slightly radioactive.  Might be
> >> hard to get as a hobbyist due to regulations.  The physicist I
> >> sat next to had a tank of it illegally stored in his cubicle.
> >> Rick
> >> N6RK
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