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On the hydrogen maser oscillation threshold

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Abstract

In the construction and evaluation of the characteristics of a hydrogen maser, the oscillation parameter q remains an important parameter but somewhat difficult to determine precisely. Among the few techniques that exist to do such an evaluation we report on the technique using a variation of the quality factor of the microwave cavity. The results are compared to the standard theoretical model of operation of the maser accepted up to now. It is found that the technique described is extremely useful for determining the operational characteristics of such a maser. Furthermore, the experimental results and theoretical analysis are in reasonable agreement, which validates to a new level the hypothesis made in the development of the theory.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Region Wallonne de Belgique for financial support through Plan Marshall SKYWIN-TELECOM convention No. 5545.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Physique Nucléaire, Atomique et de Spectroscopie (I.P.N.A.S.), University of Liège, Sart Tilman Bât.B15, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    C. Mandache

  2. Gillam-Fei, Mont Saint-Martin 58, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    C. Mandache, J. Nizet, D. Leonard & T. Bastin

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  1. C. Mandache
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  2. J. Nizet
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  3. D. Leonard
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  4. T. Bastin
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Correspondence to C. Mandache.

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Mandache, C., Nizet, J., Leonard, D. et al. On the hydrogen maser oscillation threshold. Appl. Phys. B 107, 675–677 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-012-5008-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-012-5008-7

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