Characteristics of advanced hydrogen maser frequency standards

Measurements with several operational atomic hydrogen maser standards have been made which illustrate the fundamental characteristics of the maser as well as the analysability of the corrections which are made to relate the oscillation frequency to the free, unperturbed, hydrogen standard transition frequency. Sources of the most important perturbations, and the magnitude of the associated errors, are discussed. A variable volume storage bulb hydrogen maser is also illustrated which can provide on the order of 2 parts in 10 to the 14th power or better accuracy in evaluating the wall shift. Since the other basic error sources combined contribute no more than approximately 1 part in 10 to the 14th power uncertainty, the variable volume storage bulb hydrogen maser will have net intrinsic accuracy capability of the order of 2 parts in 10 to the 14th power or better. This is an order of magnitude less error than anticipated with cesium standards and is comparable to the basic limit expected for a free atom hydrogen beam resonance standard.