JPS6364911B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a gas cell type rubidium atomic oscillator using an optical pumping method, and particularly to temperature control of a rubidium lamp section and a rubidium gas cell section.

[Conventional technology]

In a conventional gas cell type rubidium atomic oscillator, the rubidium lamp section and the rubidium gas cell section are each maintained at a predetermined temperature by separate heaters and temperature controllers. and,
Rubidium lamps require sufficient spectral intensity, so they are kept at about 100°C, and rubidium gas cells require sufficient absorption levels, so they are kept at about 70°C.
Controlled at °C. Therefore, since the conventional oscillator uses two types of temperature controllers, it has the drawbacks of having a large number of parts, being large and expensive, and having high power consumption.

Therefore, the applicant focused on the fact that there was a temperature difference of about 30°C between the rubidium lamp part and the rubidium gas cell part, and installed a heater in the rubidium lamp part to conduct transmission between the rubidium lamp part and the rubidium gas cell part. We proposed a technology in which they are connected using a thermal material to give a predetermined temperature difference, and the temperature is controlled using a single temperature controller (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 19096/1983).

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, it is actually difficult to select an appropriate heat transfer material that can maintain an appropriate temperature difference in the rubidium gas cell section by simply heating the rubidium lamp section with a heater, and it became necessary to heat the rubidium gas cell section separately. .

The present invention solves this problem, and aims to provide a rubidium atomic oscillator that can maintain an appropriate temperature difference using a heating mechanism and temperature control mechanism that are as simple as possible.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention includes a cavity containing a rubidium gas cell section, and a rubidium lamp section for irradiating the rubidium gas cell section, and the rubidium lamp section is provided with a first heater that heats the rubidium lamp, and the rubidium lamp section is provided with a first heater that heats the rubidium lamp. In a rubidium atomic oscillator in which a second heater is provided in a shield case that commonly covers a part and the cavity, the first heater and the second heater are connected in series, and the area around the rubidium lamp part is The first and second heaters are covered with a heat insulating material and are provided with one temperature controller in common for the first and second heaters for keeping the temperature inside the shield case constant.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which a rubidium lamp 6 is driven by a lamp exciter 1.
is excited. The rubidium lamp 6 is housed in a lamp house 4, and a first heater 5 is wound around the lamp house 4. lamp house 4
Then, the first heater 5 is covered with a heat insulating material 3 to form a rubidium lamp section. The heat insulating material 3 is made of, for example, glass fiber. However, it goes without saying that a hole is provided through which the light emitted from the lamp 6 is supplied to the rubidium gas cell 8. The rubidium gas cell 8 is built into the cavity 7, and the photodetection element 9 detects the light emitted from the rubidium lamp 6 and passes through the rubidium gas cell 8, and converts it into an electrical signal. The output of the photodetector element 9 is transmitted to the circuit component 14.
guided by. The circuit configuration unit 14 includes a servo amplifier,
It has a built-in low frequency oscillator, frequency multiplier, frequency synthesizer, etc., and a part of its output is supplied to the gas cell 8 via the cavity 7 to oscillate microwaves at a resonant frequency.

The cavity 7 and the rubidium lamp part are housed in a common shield case 10, the second heater 2 is wound around the shield case 10, and the first heater 5 and the second heater 2 are connected in series. be done. The shield case 10 is made of a material with high magnetic permeability and high thermal conductivity, such as permalloy. A temperature detection element 11 is installed approximately at the center of the inner wall of the shield case 10, and the temperature controller 1
2, the temperature detected by the temperature detection element 11 is, for example, 70°C.
The current flowing through the first and second heaters is controlled so that Cavity 7 and shield case 1
0, the temperature of the gas cell 8 is maintained at the above-mentioned 70°C. On the other hand, since the lamp part is surrounded by the heat insulating material 3 and heated by the first heater 5, the temperature is higher than the internal temperature of the shield case 10. The temperature difference between the shield case 10 and the lamp section can be set to an arbitrary temperature difference by appropriately selecting the capacity of the first heater 5 and the heat insulating properties of the heat insulating material 3. In this embodiment, the temperature difference is set to be about 30°C. Therefore, the temperature of the inner wall of the shield case 10 is 70°C.
When controlled, the temperature of the lamp 6 is 100° C., and the gas cell 8 and the lamp 6 are each maintained at a predetermined temperature so that desired characteristics can be obtained. In this embodiment, the rubidium lamp 6 and the gas cell 8 can each be controlled to a predetermined temperature by one temperature controller 12 that controls the currents of the first and second heaters connected in series. can be made simple, small and inexpensive.
Also, since the lamp part and cavity part are integrated, it is resistant to vibrations.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the optical microwave resonance section including the lamp section and gas cell of this embodiment, and reference numerals are the same as those shown in FIG. 1.

Of course, the present invention does not preclude modifications to the above embodiments. For example, in order to shield the lamp part and the gas cell part well, a partition wall with a hole through which the lamp light passes may be provided in the center of the shield case 10 to create a two-tank structure, and a heater with a resistance wire wound thereon may be used. Instead, it is possible to use a well-known semiconductor heater or the like.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the present invention, the lamp part and the gas cell part are covered with a common shield case, the inside of the case is controlled at a constant temperature by one temperature controller, and the lamp part and the shield case are We decided to connect the heaters in series and control the temperature at a constant temperature by housing the lamp inside an insulating material, so the number of parts is small, the mechanism is simple, and the temperature can be easily controlled. This has the effect of a rubidium atomic oscillator.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram including a partial block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the above embodiment. 1...Lamp exciter, 2...Second heater, 3
... Insulation material, 4 ... Lamp house, 5 ... First heater, 6 ... Rubidium lamp, 7 ... Cavity, 8 ... Rubidium gas cell, 9 ... Photodetection element, 10 ... Shield case, 11 ... Temperature detection element, 12 ... Temperature controller, 14 ... Circuit component.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cavity containing a rubidium gas cell section, and a rubidium lamp section for irradiating the rubidium gas cell section, the rubidium lamp section being provided with a first heater for heating the rubidium lamp, In the rubidium atomic oscillator, a second heater is provided in a shield case that commonly covers the rubidium lamp section and the cavity, wherein the first heater and the second heater are connected in series, and the rubidium lamp section is connected in series. A rubidium atomic oscillator, characterized in that the periphery of the rubidium atomic oscillator is covered with a heat insulating material, and the first and second heaters are provided with one temperature controller in common for keeping the temperature within the shield case constant.