ABSORBING CELL OF A QUANTUM FREQUENCY STANDARD AND METHODS OF ITS APPLICATION Russian patent published in 2023 - IPC G04F5/00 

FIELD: electrical technique.

SUBSTANCE: inventions relate to a technique that provides the user with an electrical harmonic signal with a given highly stable frequency. Absorbing cell of a quantum frequency standard is proposed, which has an additional working cavity, and the presence of an additional working cavity allows you to create an additional channel of the quantum frequency discriminator, while the modes of operation of different channels of the quantum frequency discriminator can differ both due to differences in the diameters and power of the laser radiation beam, and due to the inequality of temperatures of different working cavities and, accordingly, the gas filling them, moreover, both the working cavities and the cavity for storing the alkali metal reserve communicate with each other, thereby ensuring the equality of gas pressure in all cavities. A method is proposed for using an absorbing cell of a quantum frequency standard, in which the laser radiation transmitted through two working cavities of the cell is preliminarily attenuated to a different degree. Less attenuated radiation allows, after analysing the photodiode signals, to control the output frequency of the standard in the conditions of the best short-term stability. More attenuated radiation that has passed the second working cavity, due to a small field shift, makes it possible to provide conditions for the best long-term stability. In another version of the method, the cell thermal stabilization circuit is supplemented with devices that allow setting the temperature difference between the 2^nd working cavity and the 1st working cavity, and adjusting the average temperature of a pair of working cells with a heater based on the results of processing the signals from the temperature sensors, while the deviation signals of the instantaneous frequency from the resonant frequencies of the working cavities of the cell are processed jointly.

EFFECT: improving the accuracy of the quantum frequency standard simultaneously for short and long-time intervals by using new modes of operation of the standard, which are possible when using a new type of absorbing cell, as well as reducing the time it takes for the standard to reach the operating mode.

4 cl, 7 dwg