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Atomic System Clocks

Applications

Metrology and Time Keeping

  • Cesium references and hydrogen masers
  • Turnkey timescale solutions
  • Create UTC-traceable time with your atomic clocks

Radio Astronomy

  • Hydrogen masers for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) to synchronize globally distributed antennas and provide unprecedented resolution of deep space

GNSS Ground Station

  • Hydrogen masers and cesium references to generate stable time bases at the Position, Navigation and Time (PNT) cores that are distributed to users and determine location accuracy

Defense

  • Clocks for extended frequency and phase holdover in GNSS-denied environments
  • Low Allan deviation rubidium instruments for Satcom applications
Learn About C5ISR

Data Centers

  • Cesium and rubidium products that minimize clock uncertainties across globally distributed applications to increase transaction speed, efficiency and data integrity

Telecommunications

  • Stratum 1 time and frequency references for network cores
  • Cesium references that enable continuous operation during GNSS outages
  • ITU G.811.1 and 8272.1 compliance

Principle of Operation

Commercially available atomic clocks work on the hyperfine transition electron spin flip principle. Radiating the outer valence electron of an atom or ion with microwave energy at a specific frequency changes the electron spin quantum number. Because the transition only occurs over an extremely narrow  bandwidth,  the hyperfine transition is used to create extremely precise frequency and time references. 

Choosing the Correct Atomic System Clock

Hydrogen, cesium or rubidium—how do you choose the right solution for your application? While there are many considerations, monthly aging and Allan deviation are the two primary performance differentiators. 

Featured Products

Hydrogen Maser

  • Most stable commerically available clock
  • < 8.5E-14 ADEV @ 1s tau
  • Auto tune and drift compensation software for aging < 3E-16 per day
  • > 20 years of operation at nominal hydrogen flux

Cesium References

  • Primary frequency references requiring no calibration
  • < 5E-13 frequency accuracy
  • No long-term frequency drift
  • Telecom models for ePRTC applications
  • External 1 PPS disciplining

Rubidium Instruments

  • 1U rack mount rubidium instrument with up to 12 configurable outputs
  • < 5E-11 monthly aging
  • Standard and low-noise options
  • External 1 PPS disciplining

Auxiliary Output Generator

  • Generates high-resolution frequency and phase offset for use with hydrogen masers
  • Steers output to UTC without detuning the hydrogen maser cavity
  • 1E-19 resolution over 5E-8 range