NIST-F3, a cesium fountain frequency reference

Published

January 24, 2023

Author(s)

Gregory Hoth, Alexander Radnaev, Peter Mitchell, Jeffrey Sherman, Vladislav Gerginov

Abstract

A cesium fountain frequency reference known as NIST-F3 is under development at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The fountain is intended to provide input for the NIST timescale and assist with evaluation of NIST's primary and secondary frequency standards. Here, we describe details of the NIST-F3 apparatus and demonstrate a short-term frequency stability of $2.2\times10^-13}/\sqrt\tau}$ up to averaging times of $2\times10^4$ s. We also present an initial evaluation of the main frequency biases. Due to the particulars of the microwave cavity design employed in NIST-F3, the fountain exhibits a relatively large tilt sensitivity. We measure shifts of order $10^-14}/\mathrmmrad}$ when tilting the fountain. Despite this complication, we show that the tilt sensitivity can be managed with the standard techniques that have been developed for cold-atom fountains. This initial investigation suggests it will be possible to achieve our goal of a fractional frequency stability better than $0.5\times10^-15}$ for up to a few months of averaging time.

Conference Dates

January 23-26, 2023

Conference Location

Long Beach, CA, US

Conference Title

Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications 2023

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.33012/2023.18691

Local Download

Citation

Hoth, G. , Radnaev, A. , Mitchell, P. , Sherman, J. and Gerginov, V. (2023), NIST-F3, a cesium fountain frequency reference, Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications 2023, Long Beach, CA, US, [online], https://doi.org/10.33012/2023.18691, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=936233 (Accessed July 17, 2024)