[time-nuts] COTS cesium standard physics package life

[Ruslan Nabioullin]

On 09/29/2016 11:45 AM, Scott McGrath wrote:
> It depends on the beam tube   There is a fixed amount of Cs in any
> given beam tube this pool of Cs is consumed during operation.    Once
> the Cs is depleted the tube will no longer function.    It's possible
> with intermittent use for the tube to run for decades as long as
> vacuum maintenance is performed.   Most Cs tubes have a published
> expected lifetime before replacement is required  while maintaining
> published specifications.   It's possible to extend tube life
> somewhat by increasing oven temp and electrode voltages but the
> signal becomes noisier as a result

Aha, that's what I was thinking---the manual was misleading and made no 
sense in this regard.  Thanks!

-Ruslan