[time-nuts] Modern Rb atomic reference vs classic Cs

[Paul Boven]

Hi Attila, list,

On 3/17/20 9:51 PM, Attila Kinali wrote:
> At those prices, I'd rather go for a µQuans or SDS Rb clock.
> Those don't lose atoms like the Cs beam does and thus don't need
> a refill. Their lifetime is more likely in the decades than just
> a few years. Weakest link, as far as I know, are the lasers.
> And yes, after the second, at latest after the third Cs tube,
> these Rb devices are cheaper. And they are as much a primary
> standard as the 5071 is.

We've actually looked into purchasing the muQuans Rb. We learned from 
the vendor that they need to be serviced and refilled every four years, 
which could possibly be stretched to five years. This entails sending 
your clock back to the manufacturer. Otherwise, it simply runs out of Rb.

Given that we were going to deploy these in rather remote locations, we 
decided that the repeated shipping and down-time was just going to be 
too difficult to deal with.

Regards, Paul Boven.