Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1440 Gao Zhendong's Lethality (4k)

After all, the colleagues at the original research institute knew that when faced with a more stringent technological blockade, a weaker domestic foundation, and almost complete ignorance of fiber optic gyroscopes, this colleague led everyone and spent no more than a year on it.

The time was just right, and it involved two different paths, so it was practically perfect.

"But Committee Member Gao, why don't you work on rubidium clocks? Although we are short of rubidium, we can always find a way to get the small amount needed for rubidium clocks given the current situation." Professor Han was somewhat puzzled by this.

The current environment is much more relaxed than before. Theoretically speaking, given the current conditions, if we think of a way, rubidium clocks are still the better option, since mass production is easier. The limited amount of rubidium needed for rubidium clocks should be manageable.

In fact, what we are currently researching is the structure of a rubidium clock, but it uses cesium for operation.

Strictly speaking, this structure is fine as a frequency standard, but it may not be beneficial for atomic clocks. Due to various limitations, it turns out that combining the optical pump bubble structure with cesium creates many problems.

This is also why Gao Zhendong wanted to take a different path—he wanted an atomic clock that could be launched into space. So now it's perfect: those working on frequency standards can continue working on frequency standards, while he works on mass-producing atomic clocks. By combining these two paths and giving some support, they won't have to worry about anything for decades.

This is the "you handle acid-free paper, I'll handle color-changing ink" approach in the world of atomic timing.

“There are a few things to consider…” Gao Zhendong’s words surprised Professor Han. Several? This meant that he had already considered everything thoroughly.

"Firstly, there's the issue of the road's size and weight. If we continue to use cesium as a temporary substitute, miniaturization will be difficult in the short term. But even if we can get rubidium instead of cesium, I don't like the feeling of being held back by others..."

This is the main reason. As for getting rubidium, it's not impossible, but it's easy to be held hostage in the short term. This is something Gao Zhendong, who has heard enough about being held hostage in his previous life, doesn't like. Although the balance of power in the issue of who is holding whom hostage is gradually shifting, he still doesn't like it now because the balance of power hasn't been reversed yet.

Professor Han nodded repeatedly. Committee Member Gao's idea was a prudent one, since who knew what the rubidium supply situation was like?
However, at least we can supply cesium ourselves; it's better to have it ourselves than to have it from our parents.

"The second consideration is that the resonant frequency of cesium is 9192MHz, while that of rubidium is 6834MHz. Theoretically, the limit of cesium is higher. I have also evaluated that, given the current technology and the short-term development, although cesium clocks may be more expensive, their accuracy is about two orders of magnitude higher."

Although Gao Zhendong knew of more than one type of non-traditional atomic clock, such as cold spring clocks and ion traps, those new atomic clocks still had some problems at present, and the environment could not support them.

Therefore, it is still necessary to ensure the potential and lifespan of the selected technical route as much as possible. In fact, actual engineering applications show that until the end of the 20th century, the accuracy of cesium clocks was indeed 2 to 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of rubidium clocks.

一个是10^-10s，一个是10^-12~13s，差距非常明显。

The reasons for this are not just about the resonant frequency; they involve many other factors as well, but it's too early to discuss those now.

In short, cesium clocks are far more accurate than rubidium clocks before they are replaced by the new generation of atomic clocks. So, since Gao Zhendong has the goods on hand, he must want to get the right one in one go.

Rubidium clocks are not unusable; after all, they do have some advantages such as size, cost, and stability, but these are not significant.

Gao Zhendong still wanted to aim higher, since the original timeline proved that some comrades were indeed working on mass-produced rubidium clocks, even if it was a bit slow.

We can use the best and most expensive products for the most urgent matters first, and then when it's time to use them more widely, the cheaper and slightly less precise products that our comrades have developed will also be available. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Professor Han immediately nodded in agreement with Gao Zhendong's words: "Yes, cesium clock is good, cesium clock is good."

Two orders of magnitude, that's quite a lot.

If Committee Member Gao is confident enough, there's really no reason not to develop cesium clocks, even if they're more expensive. What satellite-borne technology is cheap? Compared to performance, the extra cost is negligible.

"Third, if you want to launch it into space, it's easier to extend the lifespan of a cesium clock."

Lifespan? No wonder!
The equipment used on satellites is a one-off transaction; it is almost impossible to repair or replace it in the foreseeable future, so lifespan undoubtedly becomes a very important factor.

If the satellite is still alive and kicking, but Zhong reaches his birthday first, then things will really get really funny.

"Committee Member Gao, why is that?"

Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "I've analyzed the possible principles of rubidium clocks. Whether it's a light-pumped bubble or a rubidium maser, their lifespan is affected by multiple factors, including the rubidium lamp, the filter bulb, and the absorber bulb. There are quite a few variables, and if any one of them malfunctions, it will affect the final lifespan, making it difficult to control..."

Professor Han really didn't know anything about this; it was too detailed. But he did know at least one thing: "Committee Member Gao, I know about pumping bubbles, but what is a rubidium maser? I've never heard of that."

Gao Zhendong was taken aback, then laughed: "Ah, I forgot to mention that the rubidium maser is a structure that I improved upon the rubidium optical pumping bubble structure. Although it has advantages over the optical pumping bubble structure, it is still inferior to the cesium clock in terms of accuracy, so I gave up on it and did not continue to study it."

Professor Han was shocked to hear this. It was incredible! He had actually optimized and improved upon the rubidium light pumping technology before choosing the cesium clock.

No, apart from a small number of comrades in China, this path is still completely blank for other comrades. How come you have already studied and compared multiple paths?
Professor Han shook his head. There's really no comparison.

He quickly put aside these distracting thoughts and turned his attention to what he needed to understand more, since the cesium clock, whose workings he still didn't know, was his main task going forward.

What are the factors affecting the lifespan of a cesium clock?

"As for cesium clocks, there's really only one issue—saturation of the cesium absorber. That's relatively easy to handle," Gao Zhendong said with a smile.

Although he didn't know what the cesium absorber was used for, Professor Han, who also had extensive engineering experience, understood immediately upon hearing this.

The cesium adsorbent is saturated? Since it's saturated, things are much easier to handle. Saturated, right? We just need to find a way to make it unsaturated. The simplest, even the most rudimentary, method is to simply increase the amount of cesium adsorbent.
After all, everyone understands that to make a solution unsaturated, you just need to add more solvent, right? This cesium absorber should be similar. Although Professor Han wasn't entirely clear on how Gao Zhendong actually made this cesium clock, he could still make some judgments.

No wonder Committee Member Gao wanted to develop cesium clocks. He must have found a path that is feasible in principle and also feasible in engineering. Given these advantages, there would be no reason not to choose cesium clocks.

After all, the core issue that has hindered the development of cesium clocks is the technical approach that facilitates miniaturization, and for Committee Member Gao, he has already solved this problem, or rather, he has a great chance of solving it.

As for the claim that Committee Member Gao only wanted to develop a cesium clock but hadn't figured out the technical approach yet, Professor Han simply refused to believe it. Firstly, it didn't seem like Committee Member Gao's usual practice, and secondly, judging from the numerous comparisons he had just made, he definitely had a long-considered, well-developed, and even somewhat successful approach in mind.

Thinking about this, Professor Han felt a bit like he'd struck gold. It seemed he'd have to stroll around the Panjiayuan Ghost Market after work, taking advantage of his good luck. However, he hadn't considered one thing: if he used up all his luck on this one thing, he'd probably get ripped off at the Ghost Market.

"Committee Member Gao, how exactly do we make this cesium clock?" This was the question that all the relevant comrades, including Professor Han, were most concerned about.

Gao Zhendong stood up, took out a prepared drawing, and hung it on the blackboard.

"These are the basic components of the cesium clock I'm considering..."

Upon hearing this, many comrades were shocked. What? You designed the entire clock?
"Committee Member Gao, your speed is truly impressive..." Even Professor Han, who knows atomic clocks best, couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

After all, finding a path and designing the entire clock are two completely different things. And yet, the diagram hanging on the blackboard is a complete schematic of a cesium clock.

Regardless of whether this image is usable or not, just tell me how fast Committee Member Gao is to act!

Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "Actually, this system is quite simple. The real trouble lies in one of its core components..."

What kind of talk is that...?

His words made his comrades feel extremely uncomfortable. Ahem, Committee Member Gao, if you really don't know how to be modest, you don't have to be modest.

If you're not humble, we'll feel better.

Seeing their expressions as if they wanted to boo him, Gao Zhendong pointed to the picture: "Comrades, don't believe me? Take a look, it's really simple."

I don't believe you for a second...

The comrades focused their attention on the picture and examined it carefully.

Hey, you know what, you really have to admit, this picture is actually quite simple.

At least that was true for the comrades in the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building, who were in charge of circuits, and they found that this diagram was indeed very easy to discover.

To put it simply, apart from one component, almost all the other circuits in the entire schematic have only one purpose—to perform a series of operations such as frequency amplification, synthesis, phase detection, mixing, frequency multiplication, and calculation.

If this operation were handed over to our comrades in the north, it would probably be quite difficult; they could probably set up several server racks of equipment to accomplish this. But for the comrades in the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building, this operation wasn't complicated at all.

After all, those who can come here are undoubtedly top-notch technical personnel from the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building.

With the components that Committee Member Gao had prepared beforehand, such as phase-locked loops, analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, power electronics, semiconductor operational amplifiers, and digital signal processors, these tasks were not only easy for the comrades of the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building, but also only of limited difficulty.

"Haha, the circuit part is really not difficult. It mainly takes time, but there are no difficult points."

"Hmm, it's that simple? It's that simple to get a clock with an accuracy of at least one billionth of a second?"

"Our circuits are indeed not difficult, but there is one thing that is the most difficult, and that's where the difficulty lies."

"But at least the circuit part is much simpler, so we can solve as much as we can, haha."

It seems we really misunderstood Committee Member Gao; he wasn't being modest at all, and the diagram is indeed simple.

Just as the comrades were thinking about this, they suddenly felt that something was not quite right.

No... Achieving such a demanding goal in such a simple way is not humility, it's blatant showing off!

I initially thought he wasn't faking it, but it turns out he casually revealed his impressive figure!
Unlike his colleagues at the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building, whose emotions were fluctuating wildly, Professor Han felt an overwhelming sense of surprise and delight.

What's gratifying is the performance of the comrades in the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building; at least in the circuit section, this thing is practically visibly mature.

What's astonishing is that Committee Member Gao's research has reached an unbelievable level. What kind of technical approach is this? It's practically an engineering feat.

Although it hasn't gone that far yet, he has at least moved quite a few big rocks.

"Committee Member Gao, the most difficult part you mentioned is this cesium bundle tube, right?" Professor Han asked Gao Zhendong.

Not just him, but everyone who looks at this picture can come to the same conclusion. After all, the part that is hard to understand or unfamiliar to most people is this component called a "cesium bundle tube".

After all, even Professor Han, who is not an electronics major, could understand all the electrical-related content on the diagram, but there was this one thing that even he knew nothing about.

"Yes, it's this cesium beam tube. It's the core of the atomic clock, and all the other circuits serve it."

Amidst the bewilderment of his comrades, Gao Zhendong produced two more diagrams.

"Both of these images show the structure of a cesium beam tube. However, the magnetically separated state will not be used in this project because its performance parameters are somewhat inferior. Therefore, we will focus our attention on the optically separated state..."

Gao Zhendong's words once again made the comrades realize the gap between them.

One is already quite something, but he even managed to have two!
To reiterate, if research has progressed to the point where comparative selection is possible, then the depth of research cannot be shallow!
Professor Han suddenly realized that it was probably best not to go to Panjiayuan. He had probably used up all his luck in the first half of his life on this matter. Going to the Panjiayuan ghost market would definitely result in a huge loss!
The fact that Gao Zhendong could inspire such bizarre and absurd ideas in a pure materialist scientist demonstrates the extent of his destructive power.

(End of this chapter)