摘要 |
A beam tube atomic standard employing optical pumping for state preparation and magnetic state selection of atoms is disclosed. Atoms selected from the group consisting of the alkali metal family (Cesium, Rubidium, Potassium, Sodium and Lithium) are emitted from a source thereof to a state preparation region. A laser by optical pumping changes the state of atoms emitted by the source from a first energy state to a second energy state. A microwave cavity in which a magnetic field is induced receives atoms whose energy state has been changed to the second energy state by the laser, and due to resonance phenomenon changes the state of the atoms in the second energy state. A magnet receives in a gap thereof atoms from the cavity and deflects the received atoms having the changed energy state towards an atomic detector. The atomic detector provides a detection signal proportional to the quantity of atoms received to an oscillator which tunes the frequency of the magnetic field in the cavity in dependence upon the detection signal.
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