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Electronics Letters

Compact atomic clock based on coherent populationtrapping

J. Kitching, Leo W. Hollberg, S. Knappe, R. Wynands

Published Nov 22, 2001• 56 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A simple, compact, low-power physics package for a vapour-cell atomic clock is described. The device measures 6.6 × 1.6 × 1.3 cm and dissipates less than 30 mW of electrical power without thermal control. The instability is 1.3 × 10-10/√[τ/(s)] for integration times τ below 100 s. Applications for this device include distributed telecommunications systems, advanced global positioning system (GPS) receivers and laboratory instrumentation.

DOI
10.1049/el:20010959

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We demonstrate a microfabricated atomic clock physics package based on coherent population trapping (CPT) on the D1 line of 87Rb atoms. The package occupies a volume of 12 mm3 and requires 195 mW of power to operate at an ambient temperature of 200 degrees C. Compared to a previous microfabricated clock exciting the D2 transition in Cs [1], this 87Rb clock shows significantly improved short- and long-term stability. The instability at short times is 4 x?10-11 / tau?/2 and the improvement over the Cs device is due mainly to an increase in resonance amplitude. At longer times (tau?> 50 s), the improvement results from the reduction of a slow drift to ?5 x 10-9 / day. The drift is most likely caused by a chemical reaction of nitrogen and barium inside the cell. When probing the atoms on the D1 line, spin-exchange collisions between Rb atoms and optical pumping appear to have increased importance compared to the D2 line.