[time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

Don Latham djl at montana.com
Sat Nov 1 12:13:29 EDT 2014


Absolutely! but it's not just the price of the hardware. The clock has mercury
in it. Horrors! So the paperwork involved with the EPA, OSHA, and who knows
what other agency will cost more than the hardware. Best stick with a hydrogen
clock, just stick an icepick in it when you want to get rid of it; pfffft and
it's done. Safer than your old refrigerator. :-)

seriously, tn's, see:
http://www.microsemi.com/document-portal/doc_view/133441-rubidium-devices-material-safety-data-sheet

Don

paul swed
> Magnus,
> But for a time-nut how can price even enter into the conversation? Plus it
> only draws 10s of watts. A green super duper clock. Other comment I read is
> that there is no part that will wear out. Granted I suspect over many years
> something happens, but its not the typical CS depletion. I might speculate
> the glass windows fog or something or on earth the evacuated chamber
> ultimately leaks or the metal in the vacuum release stuff.
> No idea but pretty sure I won't be putting a watch on ebay any time soon.
> Regards
> Paul
> WB8TSL
>
> On Sat, Nov 1, 2014 at 6:42 AM, Magnus Danielson <magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org
>> wrote:
>
>> Hi Bob,
>>
>> The traditional Hg ion clock with it's 40,5 GHz frequency is doable, but
>> it would be interesting if it could be commercialized at a (time-nuts)
>> friendly price.
>>
>> The modern optical clock got much easier to work with when the frequency
>> comb was invented. The frequency comb and stable lasers is now
>> commercialized, but not cheap, not cheap at all.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Magnus
>>
>>
>> On 11/01/2014 02:27 AM, Bob Camp wrote:
>>
>>> Hi
>>>
>>> Trapped ion clocks have been the “obvious successor” to a Cs tube for at
>>> least 30 years. There is a *lot* of very fancy work involved in getting
>>> from 10 MHz up to a very specific light wavelength with low ADEV and good
>>> phase noise…..
>>>
>>> Rocket science indeed. Time Nuts rocket science, but tough to do none the
>>> less.
>>>
>>> Bob
>>>
>>>  On Oct 31, 2014, at 8:09 PM, paul swed <paulswedb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Humor aside. I did dig deeper. It seems that this technology could be
>>>> commercialized in larger volumes and might land in the same cost as a
>>>> good
>>>> CS does today. Technically it looks reasonable.
>>>> Regards
>>>> Paul
>>>> WB8TSL
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Oct 31, 2014 at 1:45 PM, paul swed <paulswedb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Jim
>>>>> I am sorry to say thats the wrong clock picture.
>>>>> That picture is of 2 glass coffee tables and a toaster in between.
>>>>> I see you can order that art om ebay. Item number 142657nottoday3245
>>>>> Regards
>>>>> Paul
>>>>> WB8TSL
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Oct 31, 2014 at 1:36 PM, Jim Lux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>  OK, I know you all want to go get one...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://discoverjpl.jpl.nasa.gov/posts/520
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It's Bob Tjoelker in front of the Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) being
>>>>>> tested for magnetic field sensitivity.  It's a trapped ion clock, 1
>>>>>> liter/1
>>>>>> kg, orders and orders of magnitude better than a USO in performance.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> (if it's in the building I think it's in, the rebar is made of
>>>>>> non-magnetic stainless steel)
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-- 
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who
have not got it."
 -George Bernard Shaw

Dr. Don Latham AJ7LL
Six Mile Systems LLC
17850 Six Mile Road
Huson, MT, 59846
mail:  POBox 404
Frenchtown MT 59834-0404
VOX 406-626-4304
Skype: buffler2
www.lightningforensics.com
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