The performance of space cold atom clocks（SCACs） should be improved thanks to the microgravity environment in space.The microwave interrogation cavity is a key element in a SCAC.In this paper,we develop a microwave ...The performance of space cold atom clocks（SCACs） should be improved thanks to the microgravity environment in space.The microwave interrogation cavity is a key element in a SCAC.In this paper,we develop a microwave interrogation cavity especially for the rubidium SCAC.The interrogation cavity has two microwave interaction zones with a single feedin source,which is located at the center of the cavity for symmetric coupling excitation and to ensure that the two interaction zones are in phase.The interrogation cavity has a measured resonance frequency of 6.835056471 GHz with a loaded quality factor of nearly 4200,which shows good agreement with simulation results.We measure the Rabi frequency of the clock transition of the rubidium atom in each microwave interaction zone,and subsequently demonstrate that the distributions of the magnetic field in the two interaction zones are the same and meet all requirements of the rubidium SCAC.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.11034008)the Fund from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2013YQ09094304)the Youth Innovation Promotion Association,Chinese Academy of Sciences
文摘The performance of space cold atom clocks（SCACs） should be improved thanks to the microgravity environment in space.The microwave interrogation cavity is a key element in a SCAC.In this paper,we develop a microwave interrogation cavity especially for the rubidium SCAC.The interrogation cavity has two microwave interaction zones with a single feedin source,which is located at the center of the cavity for symmetric coupling excitation and to ensure that the two interaction zones are in phase.The interrogation cavity has a measured resonance frequency of 6.835056471 GHz with a loaded quality factor of nearly 4200,which shows good agreement with simulation results.We measure the Rabi frequency of the clock transition of the rubidium atom in each microwave interaction zone,and subsequently demonstrate that the distributions of the magnetic field in the two interaction zones are the same and meet all requirements of the rubidium SCAC.
