[time-nuts] Symmetricom CSAC is Cs acting like a Rb unit

William H. Fite omniryx at gmail.com
Tue Jan 18 22:47:18 UTC 2011


Oh gosh, it would never, EVER do to find a li'l bitty product that performs
as well as our big ole spare rooms full of costly, bulky, heavy, mostly
antiquated equipment.  [?]



On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 5:10 PM, Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:

> Hi
>
> Simply having cesium in it does not make it a primary standard. Since it's
> more like a rubidium than anything else, it's a lot easier to think of it
> as
> a "really small low power rubidium". One other advantage it may have is
> that
> the LED may have a longer life than a normal "light bulb" source. I suspect
> it's a little early to forecast 20 year (or not) life on these yet.
>
> Bob
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
> Behalf Of WB6BNQ
> Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2011 5:03 PM
> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Subject: [time-nuts] Symmetricom CSAC is Cs acting like a Rb unit
>
> To the list,
>
> If you listen carefully to the Symmetricom slide show, particularly page 3,
> it will tell you all you need to
> know:
>
>
> http://www.brainshark.com/Steve_FatSymmetricom/vu?pi=691826191&dm=5&pause=1&
> appKey=77<http://www.brainshark.com/Steve_FatSymmetricom/vu?pi=691826191&dm=5&pause=1&%0AappKey=77>
>
> You will discover that that it is indeed a Cesium operated device.  HOWEVER
> !  It is operated in the same manner
> as a Rubidium device.  Doing such does NOT make it a primary standard.
>
> In a Cesium Primary standard, a beam of Cesium atoms are energized to a
> higher state whose decay give off a
> photon of light such that being on frequecy produces more light to the
> detector.  In the Rb system, the Rb cell
> acts simply as a light filter such that when on frequency the light level
> is
> reduced as seen by the detector.
>
> This Symmetricom CSAC device uses the same process as the Rb method above.
> It uses a laser to push light through
> a chamber of Cesium gas.  This Cesium gas is acting as a simple light
> filter.  So in its current state it will
> not rival it superior cousins except in size and power comsumption and
> possibly price for performance in some
> applications.
>
> Bill....WB6BNQ
>
>
>
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