[time-nuts] homebrew atomic reference oscillator?

[Chuck Harris]

If you are a glass blower, or have access to one, and have experience
in vacuum technology, and are good at microwave circuitry design,
it is a very doable endevor.

If you are willing to use some of the recent advances using
laser based detectors, you can turn the Rb standard into something that
is of the same quality as a Cs standard.

Pretty big "If"s, though.

-Chuck

Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
> In message <20050418141756.841F99E841 at ws6-2.us4.outblaze.com>, "Robert Aurand" 
> writes:
> 
> 
>>Asking this question just out of curiosity:   Is it at all feasible
>>to home build an atomic standard?  I guess it would be Rb and not
>>Cs.   What are the difficulties that would be encountered?
> 
> 
> Considering that state-of-the-art boffins could do it 50 years ago
> and that Rb's can be sold at $1500 today I can't imagine it would
> be too hard to do a homebrew unit.
>