ABSTRACT
We report on the design, assembly, testing, and delivery of a series of new cesium fountain primary frequency standards built through commercial and scientific collaboration with international users. The new design, based on proven National Physical Laboratory solutions, improves reliability, simplicity of operation, and transportability. The complete system consists of a novel physics package, a specially developed optical package, and dedicated electronics for system control. We present results showing that despite their simplified and more compact design, the new fountains have state-of-the-art performance in terms of signal-to-noise ratio and robust long-term operation. With a sufficiently low-noise local oscillator, they are capable of reaching a short-term stability below 3×10-14 (1 s) and have potential accuracy in the low 10-16 range, similar to the best cesium fountains currently in operation. This cost-effective solution could be used to increase the availability of accurate frequency references and timescales and provide redundancy in critical locations.
ABSTRACT
Collisions between cold cesium atoms and background gas atoms at ambient temperature reduce the cold atom signal in a fountain clock and at the same time produce a shift in the measured clock frequency. We evaluate the shift in the NPL-CsF2 cesium fountain primary frequency standard based on measurements of the fractional loss of cold atoms from the atomic cloud during the interrogation time combined with a model by Gibble that quantifies the relationship between the loss and the frequency shift.
