[time-nuts] Thinking outside the box a super reference

jimlux jimlux at earthlink.net
Thu Nov 3 18:15:11 EDT 2016


On 11/3/16 1:54 PM, Bob Camp wrote:
> Hi
>
> Since you can *buy* a working Rb that runs to a given level. My assumption is that
> the objective is to do something that is significantly better than you can get for $100
> or less.  I see no point in setting up to build a device that it 10X worse and costs 10X
> more money.
>
> Making the physics package of a good Rb takes a lot of custom tooling. It also takes
> a bunch of engineering experiments to get the process running on that tooling, You
> also need to train the operators on how to do this or that with the setup.  If good performance
> is the goal, you probably need some sort of quality process backing it all up.
>
> If you look at a modern CPU as “just a handful of sand and some stuff”, it seems
> pretty easy to build one in the kitchen after an hour or two of setup. When you dig
> into the nasty details the line costs rapidly spiral off into the stratosphere. Atomic
> standards are not quite as complex, but there still is more than just a little custom
> equipment involved. $1M sounds a bit on the low side of what it might take.
>


Two books everyone contemplating this should have:

Procedures in Experimental Physics, John Strong
Roll your own, in the 30s and 40s.


Building Scientific Apparatus, Moore, Davis, Coplan, and Greer
Vacuum systems, Ion optics, Temperature control, etc. etc.


https://www.amazon.com/Procedures-Experimental-Physics-John-Strong/dp/0917914562


https://www.amazon.com/Building-Scientific-Apparatus-John-Moore/dp/0521878586


I figure everyone on this list is already sufficiently knowledgeable 
about oscillators, amplifiers, etc.




More information about the time-nuts mailing list