摘要 |
An extremely small and inexpensively manufactured physics package for an atomic frequency standard can be provided with a microwave cavity having non-critical dimensions that is driven in a substantially TEM mode by a lumped LC means, the cavity resonant frequency being primarily determined by the lumped LC means. The lumped LC means can be any structure or combination of elements providing, at a selected microwave reference frequency, a resonant inductance and capacitance. Examples of such lumped LC means include, preferably, a rod or wire conductively attached to a wall of the microwave cavity as a lumped inductance and extending into the cavity to form, at its other end, a gap with an opposing cavity wall as a lumped capacitance; or a pair of rods or wires conductively attached to opposing walls and extending therefrom as a lumped inductance to form a gap therebetween as a lumped capacitance.
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