TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES 1998 - NISTIR 6268

Schematic of a Laser-Cooled Cesium Clock. This laser-cooled cesium clock is proposed for flight aboard the International Space Station. The microgravity environment of space allows for longer atom-interrogation times, resulting in substantially better clock accuracy, 1 × 10^-16 or better. The atoms are trapped and launched periodically (about once per second) from the cubical, atom-preparation region on the left through a microwave cavity to the detection region on the right. In general layout, this is similar to an atomic-beam clock, but it operates in a pulsed mode.

TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES 1998 - Contents

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Online: April 1999