Improving the start-up characteristics of the rubidium atomic clock
Yonggang Guo,
Lili Zhu,
Shiwei Wang,
Jun Zhang,
Fucheng Shi,
Jinhai Zhang,
Jianxiang Wang,
Wenxin Li,
Zhidong Liu
Affiliations
Yonggang Guo
Science and Technology on Vacuum Technology and Physics Laboratory, Lanzhou Space Technology Institute of Physics, No. 100 Feiyan Roud, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Lili Zhu
Science and Technology on Vacuum Technology and Physics Laboratory, Lanzhou Space Technology Institute of Physics, No. 100 Feiyan Roud, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Shiwei Wang
Science and Technology on Vacuum Technology and Physics Laboratory, Lanzhou Space Technology Institute of Physics, No. 100 Feiyan Roud, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Jun Zhang
Science and Technology on Vacuum Technology and Physics Laboratory, Lanzhou Space Technology Institute of Physics, No. 100 Feiyan Roud, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Fucheng Shi
Science and Technology on Vacuum Technology and Physics Laboratory, Lanzhou Space Technology Institute of Physics, No. 100 Feiyan Roud, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Jinhai Zhang
Science and Technology on Vacuum Technology and Physics Laboratory, Lanzhou Space Technology Institute of Physics, No. 100 Feiyan Roud, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Jianxiang Wang
Science and Technology on Vacuum Technology and Physics Laboratory, Lanzhou Space Technology Institute of Physics, No. 100 Feiyan Roud, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Wenxin Li
Science and Technology on Vacuum Technology and Physics Laboratory, Lanzhou Space Technology Institute of Physics, No. 100 Feiyan Roud, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Zhidong Liu
Science and Technology on Vacuum Technology and Physics Laboratory, Lanzhou Space Technology Institute of Physics, No. 100 Feiyan Roud, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Considering the importance of start-up characteristics of the rubidium atomic clock in engineering applications, the objective of this paper is to optimize the start-up characteristics of the rubidium atomic clock by studying the theory of the rubidium atomic frequency standards, especially the light pumping process, and the effect of light intensity on frequency accuracy. Our analysis demonstrated that frequency accuracy is proportional to the light intensity, and hence, we propose a method for actively optimizing the start-up characteristics of the rubidium atomic clock by utilizing the fluctuations in light intensity. Additionally, some related experiments using the proposed method indicate that the light intensity–frequency coefficient of the rubidium atomic clock is improved from 1.84 × 10−9 to 4.21 × 10−10 V−1 within 30 min after the rubidium atomic clock is locked, and also, the lockout time is less than 5 min with a wide working temperature range (0–50 °C), indicating a significant improvement in the start-up characteristics of the rubidium atomic clock.
