DISCUSSION FORUM: ATOMIC FREQUENCY STANDARDS CESIUM

C.C. Costain

Abstract:	I am not sure how this panel was picked, but I expect it was for our objectivity. I will therefore try to be objective on the subject of cesium standards. They are certainly important to us in the standards laboratories because, I think, they will remain as the defined basis for time and frequency for at least the next twenty years. I am not going to say much about commercial cesium standards. They are widely used and well known. They are normally within specifications, and most of us are annoyed if they do not perform an order of magnitude better than specifed. The entry of the Frequency and Time Systems into the field is important, and our measurements, and I think others, show the FTS performance is between the HP and HP high-performance option. My only question with respect to commercial standards would be as to whether too much lifetime is sacrificed in attaining short-term stability. I am now going to go directly to a discussion of our primary cesium standards at NRC. I have a particular reason for doing so, which will become obvious.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 10th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting November 28 - 30, 1978 Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland
Pages:	195 - 246
Cite this article:	Costain, C.C., "DISCUSSION FORUM: ATOMIC FREQUENCY STANDARDS CESIUM," Proceedings of the 10th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Greenbelt, Maryland, November 1978, pp. 195-246.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In