The pulsed rubidium clock

In this paper, we describe a laboratory prototype of pulsed optically pumped clock based on a rubidium vapor cell with buffer gas. The measured frequency stability (overlapping Allan deviation) is sigma(y)(tau) = 3 x 10(-12)tau(-1/2) and the level of 4 x 10(-14) is reached for averaging time of r = 3 x 10(14) s. For the same set of data, the statistical tool Theol predicts a frequency stability of 2 x 10(-14) for tau = 10(5) s. This result confirms the theoretical predictions regarding this kind of frequency standard and makes it very attractive for satellite navigation and space applications in which a simple and reliable implementation is required, and the short and medium term stability (till one day) is the main concern.