Working principle of the PHARAO clock
Date: 07 Sep 2011
Satellite: STE-QUEST
Copyright: CNES
Rubidium atoms, launched in free flight along the PHARAO tube, cross a resonant cavity where they interact twice with a microwave field tuned to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of rubidium. In a freely falling laboratory, the velocity of the atoms along the ballistic trajectories is constant and can be changed continuously over almost two orders of magnitude (5-500 centimetres per second), allowing the detection of atomic signals with sub-Hertz linewidth.
Last Update: 22 Sep 2011
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