Rubidium frequency standard Extreme Teardown

Sequel to EEVBLOG's Rubidium standard teardown - inside the physics package
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FRdGsSu5Nec

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• rubid

[ForViewingOnly]

Excellent video Mike, really interesting. Do be careful with that Dremel though, I know how fingers work and don't want to see a cross section of them ;-)

[mikeselectricstuff]

@ForViewingOnly Grinding wheels don't cut soft materials like flesh very well - the biggest risk is shrapnel from the wheel breaking.

[narcoti]

What dremel tool are you using?

[mikeselectricstuff]

@narcoti Proxxon mains drill with a thin cutting disk.

[SigEpBlue]

"Need more rubidium...." XD

It's amazing how...prototype-y(?)...the device appears, with all of the components stuck right on the cases -- that or I'm just not used to seeing that type of assembly. It's almost hard to believe those were mass-produced in that form, but I'm sure like anything else, they've got the process down to an economical science. :)

Many thanks for tearing it apart and showing us!

[mikeselectricstuff]

@SigEpBlue "Mass-produced" for this sort of thing is probably only a few thousand... remember these things would have originally cost over a grand, so a minute or two on the production line to hand-solder some wires isn't a biig deal. The high operating temperatures limit the choice of mounting methods available.

[EEVblog]

Excellent follow-up. thanks Mike!

[Kilohercas]

screw can regulate resonant frequency of the cavity, it's called cavity resonator.

it should be very high quality resonator

[ChumpusRex]

Fantastic video! I think the coil around the cavity is actually a DC solenoid. These tend to be used for shimming the rubidium cell, as a magnetic field slightly alters the resonant frequency (+/- 1-2 ppm).

This can be used for synchronising multiple rubidium oscillators together, or for locking the rubidium standard to a more precise standard (e.g. GPS or caesium).

[antadefector]

@sbreheny I would't go any deeper into analyzing since it was about 15 (17) years ago, and I knew much less then now (not that I know much now). English, not being a natural language, is not so fluent to me that I'm able to explain in great detail with few words.

Had found something that looks like, but its not. I'm sure it's what You say it is, and @Kilohercas too.

[MrGerbilBrain]

aw, you should have popped the shorted circuitboard! D:

[sbreheny]

@antadefector I think you mean a "YIG" filter. YIG = Yttrium Iron Garnet - a type of dielectric material whose resonant frequency (for a given shape) depends on the external DC magnetic field. They use a tiny (about 1mm diameter) sphere of this material inside the filter and then couple RF into and out of it. A simple metal cavity resonator doesn't change its resonant freq because of DC magnetic field. The Rb hyperfine freq does depend on the external mag field, though.

[amfan12]

@CampKohler In theory, yes. However in practice, the gas charge/metal in the lamp will end up slowly diffusing into the glass.

[Films4You]

5:43 Watch out for you thumb / fingers. 6:01 Pliers Good...

I want you to make more Great video's like this but not be injured