Experimental Determination of Relaxation Rates in a Ramsey-mode Rubidium Cell Atomic Clock

SummaryWe describe a method to measure the relaxation rates in Rubidium (Rb) Pulsed Optically Pumped (POP) vapor cell frequency standards. By means of repeated spectroscopy measurements with varying Ramsey time, we show how to extract multiple estimations of the population and coherence relaxation rates of interest, which yields satisfying statistical error. The method can be applied using standard clock spectroscopy methods and equipment.