Physics:NIST-F2

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Short description: Atomic clock used for US time standard
NIST physicists Steve Jefferts (foreground) and Tom Heavner with the NIST-F2 cesium fountain atomic clock, a civilian time standard for the United States.

NIST-F2 is a caesium fountain atomic clock that, along with NIST-F1, serves as the United States ' primary time and frequency standard.[1] NIST-F2 was brought online on 3 April 2014.[1][2]

Accuracy

File:The NIST-F2 Atomic Clock, How does it work?.webm NIST-F1, a cesium fountain atomic clock used since 1999, has a fractional inaccuracy (δf / f) of less than 5×10−16.

The planned performance of NIST-F2 is δf / f < 1×10−16.[3] At this planned performance level the NIST-F2 clock will not lose a second in at least 300 million years.[4]

Evaluated accuracy

The evaluated accuracy (uB) reports of various primary frequency and time standards are published online by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). The first in-house accuracy evaluation of NIST-F2 reported a uB of 1.1 × 10−16.[5] In March 2014 and March 2015 the NIST-F2 cesium fountain clock reported a uB of 1.5 × 10−16 in the BIPM reports of evaluation of primary frequency standards.

The last submission of NIST-F1 to BIPM TAI was February 2016.[6]

At the request of the Italian standards organization, NIST manufactured many duplicate components for a second version of NIST-F2, known as IT-CsF2 to be operated by the Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRiM), NIST's counterpart in Turin, Italy.[1] As of February 2016 the IT-CsF2 cesium fountain clock started reporting a uB of 1.7 × 10−16 in the BIPM reports of evaluation of primary frequency standards.[7][8]

References

External links