CSAC – THE CHIP-SCALE ATOMIC CLOCK
This work is supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contract # NBCHC020050.
The authors have developed a Chip-Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) of sufficiently low power and small size to enable atomic timing in portable battery-powered devices. The collaboration of diverse research teams in clock technology, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), and optoelectronic devices has resulted in size and power reduction of atomic clock technology by more than two orders of magnitude. In 2007, we completed a pre-production build and evaluation of ten identical CSACs, with power <125 mW and short-term stability of σy(τ) < 2 × 10-10 τ-1/2 1. This paper reviews the physics and engineering considerations which underlie CSAC technology, describes in detail our CSAC implementation, and presents the results from the pre-production build.
