Characteristics of a Novel Kind of Miniaturized Cavity-Cell Assembly for Rubidium Frequency Standards

Abstract

A novel kind of cavity-cell assembly for rubidium frequency standards has been developed. The assembly utilizes a new magnetron-type microwave cavity. The cavity is of small size, easily manufactured with high machining precision, and the cavity frequency can be easily adjusted. Either the integrated filter technique (IFT) or the separated filter technique (SFT) can be used in this cavity-cell assembly. The assembly has a high signal-to-noise ratio. The frequency stabilities of rubidium atomic frequency standards with this assembly are 4/spl times/10/sup -12///spl tau//sup 1/2/ for IFT and 2.7/spl times/10/sup -12///spl tau//sup 1/2/ for SFT, and its temperature coefficient and light shift are very low.