Technique of pulsed optical pumping and pulsed excitation of microwave resonances using the Ramsey scheme in a {sup 87}Rb cell with a buffer gas

A laboratory prototype of a compact quantum frequency standard based on a rubidium vapour cell with pulsed laser pumping is developed. With significantly smaller overall dimensions (a volume of ∼10 L and a mass of ∼10 kg), the frequency standard is expected to have the short-term instability comparable with that of the commercial passive hydrogen masers and even the laboratory fountain-type atomic clocks based on cold atoms. The advantages of the technique of pulsed optical pumping and pulsed excitation of microwave resonances over the traditional techniques of double radio-optical resonance detection are substantiated. The results of the experimental study of pulsed optical pumping of a rubidium cell with a mixture of buffer Ar – Ne gases implemented at the VNIIFTRI are presented, the Ramsey resonances are obtained, and the process of optimising the contrast of the central resonance peak is described. (paper)