Demonstration of a Dual Alkali Rb/Cs Atomic Fountain Clock

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a dual Rb/Cs atomic fountain clock that operates simultaneously without degrading stability or accuracy, and reports on the first frequency measurement campaign with this configuration.

Contribution

It introduces a dual Rb/Cs atomic fountain clock with simultaneous operation and presents initial frequency measurement results including a new Rb hyperfine frequency value.

Findings

Dual Rb/Cs fountain clock operates simultaneously without degradation.

First Rb/Cs frequency measurement campaign with this setup.

New determination of the absolute 87Rb hyperfine frequency.

Abstract

We report the operation of a dual Rb/Cs atomic fountain clock. 133Cs and 87Rb atoms are cooled, launched, and detected simultaneously in LNE-SYRTE's FO2 double fountain. The dual clock operation occurs with no degradation of either the stability or the accuracy. We describe the key features for achieving such a simultaneous operation. We also report on the results of the first Rb/Cs frequency measurement campaign performed with FO2 in this dual atom clock configuration, including a new determination of the absolute 87Rb hyperfine frequency.