ECCM TECHNOLOGY HAS A GROWING NEED FOR IMPROVED HIGH-STABILITY TIME-FREQUENCY STANDARDS.

ECCM TECHNOLOGY HAS A GROWING NEED FOR IMPROVED HIGH-STABILITY TIME-FREQUENCY STANDARDS. THE MAIN STANDARDS CURRENTLY IN COMMON USE UTILIZE QUARTZ-CRYSTAL OSCILLATORS CUT TO THE AT ORIENTATION. A PRIMARY CANDIDATE FOR MEETING THE REQUIREMENT FOR IMPROVED TIME/FREQUENCY STANDARDS IS SC-CUT QUARTZ, WHICH OFFERS MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS IN STABILITY AND PERFORMANCE OVER AT-CUT QUARTZ OSCILLATORS. UNFORTUNATELY, X-RAY ORIENTATION EQUIPMENT OF THE TYPE USED FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS IN MANUFACTURE OF THE SIMPLER AT-CUT CRYSTALS IS INADEQUATE FOR PRODUCTION OF SC-CUT CRYSTALS, WHICH REQUIRE PRECISE ORIENTATION ABOUT EACH OF TWO AXES (I.E., ARE "DOUBLY ROTATED"). THE PROPOSED PROGRAM HAS AS ITS OBJECTIVES PROOF OF FEASIBILITY OF A NOVEL X-RAY TECHNIQUE TO PERMIT BOTH MEASUREMENT AND CORRECTION OF THE ANGLES OF CUT OF DOUBLY ROTATED QUARTZ-CRYSTAL PLATES, SUCH AS THE SC, IN A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT, AND DELIVERY OF A CONCEPTUAL DESIGN FOR A COMPLETE ORIENTATION MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENT. FEASIBILITY WILL BE DETERMINED FROM CALCULATIONS AND FROM EXPERIMENTS UTILIZING MODIFICATIONS TO A PROTOTYPE LASER-ASSISTED LAUE DIFFRACTOMETER, AN INSTRUMENT SIMILAR IN GEOMETRY TO THAT PROPOSED.