[time-nuts] CS reservoir depletion

[Magnus Danielson]

On 14/01/11 00:23, Robert Darlington wrote:
> Lead is slightly radioactive.   Presumably the person building the device
> would either source the right isotope or just use an existing vapor
> container from an old unit.  Of course if it was totally scratch built, I'd
> still just buy the right isotope.

If you go down the classical route you need Rb-87 (x2) and Rb-85. Also, 
you want buffer-gas.

A more modern route would skip two of the glass containers (the Rb-87 
lamp and the Rb-85 filtering cell) and inject the right excitation 
wavelength using a tuned laser diode. It would just create a different 
set of problems, but if you do not aim for perfection at first, then it 
should be handleable. So far the lasers I've seen capable of pulling it 
off isn't that cheap, but I haven't looked too much at it and I am not a 
tuneable laser expert... I would have to do a bit more reading up before 
attempting anything in that direction.

Cheers,
Magnus