Test and Analysis of Timekeeping Performance of Atomic Clock

Abstract

At present, there are few articles about the timekeeping performance of domestic atomic clocks in their moving state. In this paper, the frequency stability changes of hydrogen atomic and cesium atomic clocks in stationary and moving states are compared and analyzed; the frequency stability of the atomic clock at the beginning of its transition from moving state to stationary state is tested and analyzed; the influence of three main noises of atomic clocks on frequency stability is analyzed; and finally, the difference in the predictability of atomic clocks in moving and stationary states is analyzed. The results show that: (1) in the moving state, the frequency stability of a hydrogen clock decreases by 1–2 orders of magnitude, and the frequency stability of a cesium clock decreases by 0.5 orders of magnitude; (2) in the recovery stage, the frequency stability of hydrogen and cesium clocks is between that in static and moving stages, but the frequency stability fluctuates greatly in this stage; (3) in the moving state, the three main noises of the atomic clock all increase, of which the increase in the white noise of phase modulation is the largest, indicating that it is the most sensitive to vibration and has the greatest impact on the frequency stability of the atomic clock during the moving period; (4) in the mobile state, the RMS of the prediction data of the hydrogen clock and cesium clock greatly increases compared with that in the static state.

Keywords

• hydrogen atomic clock
• cesium atomic clock
• frequency stability
• mobile timekeeping performance
• atomic clock noise type