[time-nuts] Cold Rubidium over hyped?

[cdelect at juno.com]

The pressure sensitivity for a classic design can easily be eliminated.
 
I'm pretty sure that the old Varian R20 cell was mostly immune.
 
Either using the R20 design or stiffer convex ends in a modern design
would work.
 
Also a sealed optical unit has been used to get rid of the pressure
problem.
 
Any of these methods would be trivial in a new design.
 
The Rb/glass absorption is mostly in the lamp, when using the proper
glasses in the cell and using similar lasers to what the cold standard
uses eliminates that.

Newer RF architecture would also help, NLDL multiplier, low noise
synthesis, etc.
 
My main gripe was that either they were either intentionally reducing the
performance of their masers or using a setup that did not do justice to
them.
 
Cheers,
 
Corby