Miniaturized Microwave Cavity for Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standards

In view of mobile and battery-powered applications, there is an increasing demand for more radically miniaturized and low-power atomic frequency standards. For the miniaturization of a double-resonance Rubidium atomic clocks, the size reduction of the microwave cavity or microwave resonator (MWR) to well below the wavelength of the atomic transition (6.835 GHz in the case of 87 Rb) has been a long-standing issue. In this paper we propose a new miniaturized MWR, the mu-LGR, that meets the requirements for the atomic clock application while the structure is very compact, and assembly can be performed using standard and potentially low-cost techniques. Concept of the proposed device was proven through simulation and prototypes were successfully tested, showing the mu-LGR to be suitable for the integration in a miniaturized atomic clock.