Comb enhanced oscillator with AM-to-PM noise suppression
AssigneeHRL Laboratories, LLC
InventorsRandall L. Kubena, Walter S. Wall, Gabriel Virbila
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A comb enhanced oscillator in which a drive signal from a first oscillator is split into two signals. The first signal is applied to a nonlinear resonator producing a phononic frequency comb of equally spaced resonances. The second signal is passed through an amplitude detector and a phase shifter. In one embodiment, the comb is applied to the phase shifter to correct for AM-PM cross-correlation noise and then applied to a phase lock loop (PLL) for locking to a second oscillator. The output of the second oscillator is used as the output of the comb enhanced oscillator.
Claims25
A comb enhanced oscillator comprising:
- a. a first oscillator for generating a drive signal;
- b. a signal splitter for splitting the drive signal into first and second signals;
- c. a nonlinear resonator responsive to the first signal for producing a phononic frequency comb;
- d. an AM-PM noise correction circuit including at least an amplitude detector and a phase shifter, the amplitude detector of the AM-PM noise correction circuit being responsive to the second signal and the phase shifter being responsive to both the amplitude detector and the phononic frequency comb, the AM-PM noise correction circuit generating a noise correction circuit output signal;
- and
- e. a phase locked loop (PLL) and a second oscillator, the PLL being responsive to the noise correction output signal for locking the second oscillator to a particular tooth of the phononic frequency comb, the second oscillator providing an output of the comb enhanced oscillator.
A comb enhanced oscillator comprising:
- a. a first oscillator for generating a drive signal;
- b. a signal splitter for splitting the drive signal into first and second signals;
- c. a nonlinear resonator responsive to the first signal for producing a phononic frequency comb;
- d. an AM-PM noise correction circuit including at least an amplitude detector and a phase shifter, the amplitude detector of the AM-PM noise correction circuit being responsive to the second signal and the phase shifter being responsive to the amplitude detector and a selected tooth of the phononic frequency comb, the AM-PM noise correction circuit providing an output of the comb enhanced oscillator;
- and
- e. a phase locked loop (PLL) and a second oscillator, the PLL being responsive to the phononic frequency comb for locking the second oscillator to said selected tooth of the phononic frequency comb, the second oscillator providing an input to the phase shifter of the AM-PM noise correction circuit.
A method of improving an output signal of an oscillator circuit having a first oscillator and a nonlinear resonator responsive to the first oscillator for producing a phononic frequency comb, the method comprising:
- a. splitting off a portion of a signal generated by the first oscillator;
- b. applying the portion of the signal generated by the first oscillator to a first circuit having at least an amplitude detector and a phase shifter;
- and
- c. applying either an output of the nonlinear resonator to said phase shifter or a selected tooth of the output of the nonlinear resonator to said phase shifter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.