A lot of hype has been coming out of the left coast down under for many years, with this being the latest example. This technology tends to produce the world's most sensitive microphone. It's also a fairly sensitive thermometer, too, which the helium bath tends to mask. The prices asked have tended to be fairly high. Agilent (now Keysight) has made sapphire resonators like this for use at room temperature on an experimental basis. They have a considerably better design; I just happened to be talking to the designer today, who is no longer with Keysight. Last I heard (2014) they were struggling with microphonics. There was also the well known problem of insufficient management support for the technology.
Another issue is identifying the electronics that can utilize this signal without degrading it. And how to measure this electronics to prove it isn't degrading the signal. Before the sapphire craze, HP/Agilent developed a 1 GHz dielectric resonator cavity (not a coaxial resonator) that was huge. The "puck" rivaled a hockey puck. I don't believe this ever got productized. It was another big microphone of course. Another HP experimental oscillator was a VCO that covered an octave using around 100 varactor diodes. It was called the "wagon wheel oscillator". Again, it was a hero experiment. The total RF power was enormous. Just putting all this into perspective. Rick On 11/9/2016 4:20 PM, Jim Palfreyman wrote:
Anyone got any comments on this? http://www.theleadsouthaustralia.com.au/industries/technology/worlds-most-precise-clock-set-for-commercial-countdown/ Jim Palfreyman _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
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