Abstract
IT is probable that in the field of use of quartz crystal vibrators there are no requirements more exacting than those imposed on the quartz vibrator which is used to control the time-keeping of a quartz clock. The British Post Office has had considerable experience in fabricating 100 kc./s. quartz vibrators and incorporating them in suitable oscillator circuits to maintain clocks or frequency standards. It is the general experience that these oscillators have a slow frequency change even after several months of uninterrupted operation. This change is extremely small, being of the order of one part in 109 a day for a good clock to one part in 1011 for the best clock. Recent tests have shown that the frequency-change or ‘ageing’ can be reduced by using the crystal vibrator at a temperature which is lower than the normal 50° C.
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MITCHELL, H. Ageing of Quartz Crystal Vibrators. Nature 174, 41–42 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1038/174041b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/174041b0
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