[time-nuts] Used Rb Operating Lifetime

David davidwhess at gmail.com
Sat Dec 31 19:30:46 UTC 2011


I agree that they are an amazing value but what kind of operating
lifetime do the Rb tubes have?  SRS has this to say:

>Historically, the lifetime of rubidium frequency standards has been
>dominated by rubidium depletion in the discharge lamp. To avoid excess
>flicker noise, manufacturers would load less than 100 µg of rubidium
>into spherical discharge lamps. The PRS10 uses a lamp with a side arm
>loaded with 1 mg of rubidium. This design eliminates rubidium
>depletion as a failure mechanism, and provides better temperature
>control without excess flicker noise.

http://www.thinksrs.com/products/PRS10.htm

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:56:32 -0000, "Rob Kimberley"
<robkimberley at btinternet.com> wrote:

>I'm also enjoying all the feedback since my original post. 
>
>I look at this way; these Rubidiums are probably in the region of $1000 new.
>We're getting them for a song. OK, you take the risk of the odd dud, but
>that's the way of fleabay. I will let you all know how UK Customs performs
>on my shipment if & when it arrives! 
>
>Happy New Year to all Time Nutters out there.
>
>Rob Kimberley



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