INTEGRAL CAVITY HYDROGEN MASER

R. Kunski

Abstract: Continuing effort is being directed to developing a thermally, mechanically, and dimensionally stable microwave cavity for a hydrogen maser. The more stable cavity allows for less restricted tuning (or autotuning) of the maser. In addition, overall maser performance is directly related to the stability of the microwave cavity. This paper presents results of research and development on a new, not previously reported, microwave cavity for the hydrogen maser. The cavity is made of quartz. The storage bulb and the cavity components are bonded together to form an "integral cavity" with no moving parts. The performance of the integral cavity, installed in a NASA Research (NR) maser, during its three years of continuous operation, is presented. The long-term aging effect of the cavity was evaluated. The cavity frequency drift, after three years of operation, is 0.08 Hz per day, which corresponds to 12.6 x 101° per day of the maser frequency drift due to the cavity aging effect, The atomic line quality factor Q, as well as the wall relaxation time tw were evaluated during the maser operation.
Published in: Proceedings of the 18th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting
December 2 - 4, 1986
DuPont Plaza Hotel
Washington, DC
Pages: 631 - 651
Cite this article: Kunski, R., "INTEGRAL CAVITY HYDROGEN MASER," Proceedings of the 18th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Washington, DC, December 1986, pp. 631-651.
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