[time-nuts] Cold Rubidium?

[Paul Boven]

Hi Attila, everyone,

On 11/3/19 7:12 PM, Attila Kinali wrote:
> You do not need to replenish the Rb supply, as the Rb atoms do not get
> used up. They are free floating in vaccuum and get captured by the MOT.
> Thus, unlike the Cs beam's oven, which just spits the Cs atoms out,
> the MOT does not need a storage for Rb atoms. Of course, some of
> the Rb will get lost due to wall absorption, but that should be only
> a minor fraction. I would also suspect that the laser system will
> fail before the clocks run out of Rb atoms.

We were seriously considering the Muquans clock for a radio astronomy 
project. However, the company explained that the device has to be 
returned every 3 to 5 years for re-filling. Given the very remote 
location we were going to put these in, that was out of the question for us.

Regards, Paul Boven.