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

[Colin Kaminski]

There are 795nm laser diodes. It would be pretty easy to lock one of these
to 795.5nm. I bet they are expensive.

https://www.photodigm.com/products/795-nm-laser-diode

Colin Kaminski

On Wed, Jun 7, 2023 at 6:32 PM Bob Camp via time-nuts <
time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:

> Hi
>
> The obscure footnote to much of this is that each cell is not always “pure”
> this or that. There are a range of issues that come up. You add buffer gas
> of this or that type to correct for these issues. Just what’s on that list
> …. it’s
> been to many decades since I was into this ….
>
> Bob
>
> > On Jun 7, 2023, at 6:37 PM, Ed Marciniak via time-nuts <
> time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:
> >
> > At least one implementation of rubidium clocks I've seen use a lamp,
> filter and resonance cell.
> >
> > The filter had rubidium 85, the lamp and resonance cell had rubidium 87
> or possibly a natural isotopic mix, likely with the lamp being natural
> rubidium isotopic abundance.
> >
> > I suspect the higher quality ones had resonance cells with isotopically
> enriched rubidium 87.
> >
> > Increased signal to noise ratio would allow lower lamp power, and
> potentially both lower light shift, and longer lifetimes on components.
> > ________________________________
> > From: Stephen C. Menasian via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 7, 2023 4:03:24 PM
> > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement <
> time-nuts at lists.febo.com>
> > Cc: Stephen C. Menasian <menasian at ptd.net>
> > Subject: [time-nuts] Re: Creating a D.I.Y Rubidium Atomic Clock
> >
> > 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
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at lists.febo.com
> >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave at lists.febo.com
> >>>
> >>> ------------
> >>> "It's always something."
> >>> Roseanne Rosannadanna
> >>> ----------------------"
> >>> Dr. Don Latham  AJ7LL
> >>> PO Box 404, Frenchtown, MT, 59834
> >>> VOX: 406-626-4304
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at lists.febo.com
> >>> To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave at lists.febo.com
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at lists.febo.com
> >> To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave at lists.febo.com
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at lists.febo.com
> > To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave at lists.febo.com
> > _______________________________________________
> > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at lists.febo.com
> > To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave at lists.febo.com
> _______________________________________________
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave at lists.febo.com