Rubidium Oscillators

START 'RUBIDIUM OSCILLATOR' PARAMETRIC SEARCH

Rubidium oscillators are a type of atomic clock and are the most accurate time standards known and are used as time distribution services to control things such as telecommunications infrastructure, TV broadcasts and global navigation satellite systems (GPS).

The part of the rubidium oscillator which is responsible for providing the output signal is actually a quartz crystal oscillator (OCXO); while the rubidium “physics-package” and its associated control circuitry provides the timing accuracy to control the OCXO frequency.

In quartz oscillators, the device is adjusted to frequency when it is made but its frequency is never generally checked again. Over time, its frequency changes slightly, making the clock run fast or slow. However, the rubidium section of the oscillator continually checks the frequency of the quartz oscillator and adjusts it back onto frequency.

Our rubidium oscillator datasheet is available from the Rubidium Oscillator parametric search page.