Rubidium Clock - an Atomic Clock

There are mainly three types of atomic clocks. They are cesium, hydrogen and rubidium. The principle behind all the three remains the same. Rubidium atomic clocks are the simplest and most compact of all. The rubidium clock uses the transition of the rubidium-87 atom between two hyperfine energy states. The rubidium atoms are forced to change their hyperfine energy state and then subjected to microwave radiations to return to their original state. When the atoms returns to the original state the frequency of the period of the wave can be used to measure time. Rubidium clocks are not as stable or accurate as other atomic clocks. However they are compact and less expensive.

Rubidium element:

Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff discovered rubidium in the year 1861. Till 1920s this element had minimal industrial use. However the most important use of rubidium is in research and development primarily in chemical and electronic applications. Rubidium is a chemical element in the period table that has the symbol Rb and atomic number 37.Rubidium is a soft, silvery-white metallic element of the alkali metal groups. It is one of the most electropositive elements and it is ignites spontaneously in air and reacts violently with water.

Temex Time:

Timex Time is a leading global supplier of low-cost Rubidium clock and GPS- synchronized timing solutions. In 2005 they introduced plug and play Rubidium timing designer kit for system designer. Temex Time has also announced a low-cost Rubidium oscillator, the LCR-900 that creates an affordable solution for mid-end positioning test and communications applications.

Rubisource T& M- Portable Rubidium Timing Signal Reference:

This is a portable timing reference based on rubidium oscillator technology for use in test and measurement applications. The output signal provides exact timing information based on the highly accurate and stable rubidium oscillator inside. The rubidium fast warm-up eliminates the need for bulky backup batteries.

Rubisource2000:

Rubisource is a low-cost portable timing reference based on rubidium clock technology. Rubidium clock provides highly accurate, stable and reliable output. Rubisource 2000 is designed for telecom and metrology test and measurement applications. It is also a reference source used to enable fast measurement and testing of the synchronization quality of PDH/SDH/SONET Digital networks. Coupled with the optional GPS FC, the range of observation time can be largely extended to meet specific requirements.

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