Frequency of the methane-stabilized He-Ne laser at 88 THz measured to plus or minus 3 parts in 10 to the 11th

Frequency measurements were carried out using a simplified chain of comparison with only four main transfer oscillators (one a klystron) between the methane-stabilied laser and a rubidium standard. The estimated mean frequency of the ensemble of five lasers is (88,376,181,616 plus or minus 3)kHz, with an estimated standard deviation within a factor of 2 of the reproducibility of the lasers. The result is of interest for the proposed new definition of the meter in which the speed of light in vacuum would be kept constant and reference would be made to the standard time and frequency.