Mike Tobar's Home Page 1. The aim is to develop new highly frequency stable microwave oscillators capable of operating an atomic fountain frequency standard at the quantum limit. This research aims to develop the new concept of a solid nitrogen cooled oscillator.
Liquid helium cooled devices are difficult to operate in the laboratory and even more so in space.
It is our goal to achieve sufficient performance in a solid nitrogen cooled device. Recently in collaboration with UWA, Warsaw University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a new measurement technique of material properties utilizing Whispering Gallery Mode resonators was pioneered. This project will utilize this technique in novel ways to study the properties of low loss dielectric crystals. The proposed research project is aimed at exploiting the potential of microwave circuit interferometry for such applications as frequency stabilisation of microwave oscillators at microwave frequencies. Unfortunately, these sources are expensive devices that are confined to specialized laboratories, despite their potential to be used in a broader range of fields.