Experimental Results on a Mg Atomic Beam

Recent advances in the realization of a frequency standard based on the fine structure transition 3P1-3P0 of 24Mg are reported. With the frequency stability obtained in the present setup, the zero-field transition frequency is evaluated to be 601 277 158.33 ± 0.2 kHz. The feasibility of a frequency standard with an ultimate uncertainty of 10-13 in a measurement time of less than 10 s is discussed.