[time-nuts] Used Hydrogen Maser

[Richard (Rick) Karlquist]

FWIW, about 20 years ago, Len Cutler and Robin Giffard of 5071A fame
built several Hg ion clocks to be shipped to some govt customer I
don't remember.  One of the clocks was dropped by the shipping company
UPS or FedEX) and destroyed.  Only then did Len learn that HP was
self insured, probably as part of a package deal to get a low
corporate shipping rate.  HP products were packed extremely well, so
the only real risk was the unit getting stolen.  I vaguely remember
Len saying they were out $10K, which was probably just the cost of
parts.  Nevertheless, it didn't seem like building an Hg clock was
all that big of a project.  Way simpler than the 5071A.
Now a days, the electronics would be considerably easier and cheaper. 
The mechanical parts would all be CNC'ed by an online machine shop.

Rick N6RK

On 7/10/2019 9:41 AM, jimlux wrote:

> I wonder what it would cost to build a trapped Hg ion clock - I don't 
> think it's $10M, but it might be in the range of $500k-1M if you pay 
> people to do the work.  Things like the quadrupole trap and ion sources 
> are catalog items.  The whole vacuum system, including a turbo pump, is 
> probably in the $10k range (looking at the Cole Parmer catalog, first 
> hit on google), maybe another $5k in various vacuum plumbing bits and 
> pieces.
> 
> back in 2005-2006 (published in 2007), Prestage et al had a lab version
> https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4319251
> 
> pumped, backfilled with Ne, then sealed
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