Pulsed optically pumped frequency standard

We reconsider the idea of a pulsed optically pumped frequency standard conceived in the early 1960s to eliminate the light-shift effect. The development of semiconductor lasers and of pulsed electronic techniques for atomic fountains and new theoretical findings allow an implementation of this idea which may lead to a frequency standard whose frequency stability is limited only by the thermal noise in the short term and by the temperature drift in the long term. We shall also show both theoretically and experimentally the possibility of doubling the atomic quality factor with respect to the classical Ramsey technique approach.