Quadrupole magnets were used in previous atomic clocks
Most accurate measurement system known to man could have energy
application in Ion Source Beam Projector.
by Sterling
D. Allan
Pure Energy Systems News
Copyright © 2004
BOULDER, COLORADO, USA
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David W. Allan
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I was with my dad, David W. Allan, this past Father's Day. He is an atomic
clock physicist (AllansTIME.com), who
spent his professional career in Boulder, Colorado with the atomic clock team
there at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, formerly NBS).
During his 32 years at NBS/NIST, he and the Time and Frequency Division team
were able to increase the accuracy of timekeeping by more than a factor of a
1000.
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Aerial view of NIST Boulder Laboratories
campus
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He now lives just north of me in Fountain Green, Utah, in a beautiful solar
home he designed and built as a family project. Retired in '92, he is now more
busy than ever, but enjoying the research that he is doing.
David Allan in front of his Solar Home that has no
furnace.
A couple of weeks ago he returned from Boulder from a week-long stint, during
which he gave a lecture and got caught up to speed on the work being done
amongst his colleagues there.
NIST has been a leader in precision time-keeping. They showed him their recent
work that will increased time accuracy by yet another 100-fold.
Let me quote from his Father's Day message from him to me and my brother a
couple of weeks ago, if I may indulge:
"As I mentioned to you, we just got back from a
glorious week in Boulder. We got to meet a ton of friends and to get updated
on the latest and greatest in atomic clock metrology. NIST just finished a
60-day evaluation of the most accurate atomic clock in the world.
http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/cesium/fountain.htm
"The current accuracy is +/- a second in 40 million years. And they now
have an optical clock not cesium, which is about 100 times better. Also
saw their quantum computing work. They have to be the best division in all of
the Dept. of Commerce:
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/20040617051318151
"It was wonderful to see all this technical progress with great team
work."
Time measurement is the most accurate measurement known to man, with an
accuracy that amounts to less than +/- 80 picoseconds in a day (a picosecond is
one million-millionth of a second). It is at the heart of the modern technology
world, keeping the power grid in sync, airlines on course, cell phones
connected, and the Internet operational. Modern timekeeping counts the
vibrations of atoms, for example, as the "pendulum" by which they
obtain accuracy.
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Quadrupole Magnets
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Now, here is the punch line.
Recently I have been working with James Fauble to open source his Ion
Source Beam Projector design, which he believes will extract energy for
practical use. He has been trying to source some quadrupole magnets of a
particular dimension to replicate his design, which he built previously.
He has been having a hard time sourcing the quadrupole magnets, whereas it used
to be much easier to find them. It costs as much as $5,000 USD to tool up to
build them to spec.
Well, it so happens that quadrupole magnets were used in atomic clock metrology
in the past. They now use a different, "fountain" technology,
mentioned by my dad, above. Perhaps that is why it was easier for James to
find them before, compared to now.
Here is the explanation my dad gave of the role of quadrupole magnets in atomic
clock metrology.
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Atomic Clock of
NRC Canada, 1975
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"A quadrapole can be used as a quantum energy state
selector. It acts like a lens. Instead of focusing light, a quadrapole focuses
a desired quantum energy state. Like the lens has a gradient in the thickness
of the glass -- symmetric about the center, so does a quadrapole generate
magnetic or electric field gradient, where the adjacent poles are of opposite
polarity. Once the desired energy state is focused -- into a cavity for
example -- then the atom or molecule can be interrogated in order to deduce
some natural frequency associated with a particular pair of quantum energy
levels. This frequency is that measured for the photons that are either
absorbed or emitted proportional to this quantum energy difference. It is this
frequency that is used like a pendulum for an atomic clock."
-- David W. Allan; June 28, 2004
My dad said he would check around to see if there might be some quadrupole
magnets that can be borrowed for Fauble's project. It will not happen
quickly, though, because he is tremendously busy with his present project.
This should not be construed as an explicit endorsement by him of that project,
as he has not had the time to study it carefully.
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Correction from David Allan -- Wasn't "Routine"
From: David W. Allan
To: Sterling D. Allan
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2004 10:26 PM
Subject: Re: Atomic Clocks, Quadrupole Magnets, and Possible Energy
Source
Ster,
I am sorry I didn't do a read on your write up before you shared it. To say that
quadrapole magnets were routinely used is incorrect. They were used; I used them
when I first went to work there. In my case, they weren't magnets but quadrapole
electric field generators. All commercial cesium atomic clocks up to date use a
dipole magnetic field. The same principles apply. A field gradient is set up to
focus the atoms. H-masers often use hexipole magnets. They were some more
efficient in focusing the hydrogen atoms into the microwave cavity.
I need to think about who might have used quadrapole magnets. I know they have
been used, but not very often.
Hope this helps t clarify.
love,
dad
See also
Page composed by Sterling
D. Allan June 13, 2004
Last updated July 16, 2005
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