Development Status and Performance of the Timing Unit Rubidium Oscillator (TURbO) As a Compact High Performance, Low SWaP Atomic Clock

In this paper, we report on the innovative design and performance of the Timing Unit Rubidium Oscillator (TURbO). TURbO is a compact, lamp-based, double resonance rubidium clock. Its design incorporates full digital control for the physics package environmental and clock control loop electronics. The TURbO unit is designed to provide superior performance as compared to other compact rubidium clocks currently available while under harsh dynamic environmental conditions. This is accomplished by reducing the size of the rubidium physics package, and miniaturizing the associated control electronics. Another key aspect of the new compact design is the integrated 10MHz silicon oscillator that replaces the traditional quartz oscillator. TURbO is engineered to be virtually vibration insensitive and to meet performance over a temperature range from -40°C to +71°C.