For this research project an integrated, nano mechanically-regulated atomic clock will be designed, fabricated and evaluated. This particular atomic clock design has a unique architecture in which all significant power sinks in existing designs (for example, a VCSEL-driven Cesium lamp and an electromagnet-generated magnetic field in the vapor cell) are totally eliminated. In this new atomic clock architecture (Figure 1), a thin-film isotope of radioactive nickel (Ni63) is used as the radiation source to drive the generation of photons in a new radiation-driven Rb lamp. This lamp precludes the use of laser diodes or VCSELs and saves significant power since all energy to pump the Rubidium vapor (Rb87) is provided by the radioactive energy of the nickel isotope (Ni63).
Ultimately our approach will make it possible to have one hundred "sub-clocks" or "nested clocks" that all run in parallel but are loosely-coupled (via a novel nano mechanical magnetic field regulator array) in order to increase the signal-to-ratio of the photon flux in the Rb85 vapor cell. |