Atomic frequency standards at NICT

摘要

Various activities of atomic frequency standards studied in National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) are briefly reviewed. After BIPM accepted the first cesium fountain clock in NICT as a reference to determine International Atomic Time (TAI), efforts to further reduce the uncertainty of collision shifts are ongoing. A second fountain clock using atomic molasses is being built to enable the operation with less atomic density. Single ion clock using calcium has been pursued for several years in NICT. The absolute frequency measured in 2008 has CIPM to adopt the Ca+ clock transition as a part of the list of radiation (LoR) to realize the meter. Sr lattice clock has started its operation last year. The absolute frequency agreed well with those obtained in other institutes. Study of stable cavities to stabilize clock lasers are also introduced.