[Lowfer] "WE" in QRSS-60 now and freq measurements...

[Ed Phillips]

Jay Rusgrove wrote:
> 
> Bill/John
> 
> I've heard rumors of development of a mercury electron frequency standard that
> is several orders of magnitude better than cesium. When they get it running they
> could always check it against WA for accuracy!

	There was an article on the subject in Science magazine a few months
back.  It's very complicated apparatus, and I don't remember what atomic
state was sensed.  Apparently what the guys did was to end up phase
locking an RF standard against the appropriate resonance, by multiplying
its frequency all the way up to the optical region!  I don't think we'll
see such gadgets on the market for a few years, but really a beautiful
idea and experiment.

Ed