Progress Toward the Second-Generation Atomic Fountain Clock at NIST

Published

August 23, 2005

Author(s)

Elizabeth Donley, M O. Tataw, F Levi, Steven R. Jefferts, Thomas P. Heavner

Abstract

We present results on the performance of two important subsystems for NIST -F2 -the second-generation atomic fountain clock at NIST. Firstly, we demonstrate the efficient capture of cesium atoms from a low-velocity intense source (LVIS) of atoms into an optical molasses. Our typical LVIS flux was 10^{(10) atoms/s. The initial molasses fill rate was 3.8(5) x 10}u6 atoms/ms, which is consistent with 100% atom capture given the lifetime of our vacuum system. Secondly, recent results for our launch performance in the (1, 1, 1) fountain geometry are presented. We were able to cool the atoms to a temperature of 1.5 uK with our current design. Our plans for improving the laser cooling performance are also presented.

Proceedings Title

Proc. IEEE Intl. Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Anniversary Joint Conf.

Conference Dates

August 24-27, 2004

Conference Location

Montreal, 1, CA

Conference Title

IEEE Intl. Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Conf.

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

atomic beams, atomic clocks

Citation

Donley, E. , Tataw, M. , Levi, F. , Jefferts, S. and Heavner, T. (2005), Progress Toward the Second-Generation Atomic Fountain Clock at NIST, Proc. IEEE Intl. Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Anniversary Joint Conf., Montreal, 1, CA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=50083 (Accessed October 10, 2025)