The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 26, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 05, 2000
Miao Zhu, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Leonard S. Cutler, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Agilent Technologies, Inc, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A quantum absorber is provided having transitions that include a first transition between a first lower quantum state and an upper quantum state, and a second transition between a second lower quantum state and the upper quantum state. The first transition and the second transition have energies that correspond to frequencies of &ohgr; and &ohgr; , respectively. The lower quantum states differ in energy by an energy difference subject to a total a.c. Stark shift. Incident electro-magnetic radiation is generated. The incident electro-magnetic radiation includes main frequency components and additional frequency components. The main frequency components are at frequencies of &OHgr; and &OHgr; , equal to &ohgr; and &ohgr; , respectively, and differ in frequency by a frequency difference. The additional frequency components collectively have a spectrum. The quantum absorber is irradiated with the incident electro-magnetic radiation. Electro-magnetic radiation from the quantum absorber is detected to generate a detection signal. The frequency difference is controlled to obtain an extremum in the detection signal. The extremum indicates that the frequency difference corresponds to the energy difference between the lower quantum states. The spectrum of the additional frequency components is set to reduce the magnitude of the total a.c. Stark shift, and a frequency standard signal related in frequency to the frequency difference is provided.