Microwave interferometry: application to precision measurements and noise reduction techniques

A concept of interferometric measurements has been applied to the development of ultra-sensitive microwave noise measurement systems. These systems are capable of reaching a noise performance limited only by the thermal fluctuations in their lossy components. The noise floor of a real time microwave measurement system has been measured to be equal to -193 dBc/Hz at Fourier frequencies above 1 kHz. This performance is 40 dB better than that of conventional systems and has allowed the first experimental evidence of the intrinsic phase fluctuations in microwave isolators and circulators. Microwave frequency discriminators with interferometric signal processing have proved to be extremely effective for measuring and cancelling the phase noise in oscillators. This technique has allowed the design of X-band microwave oscillators with a phase noise spectral density of order -150 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz Fourier frequency, without the use of cryogenics. Another possible application of the interferometric noise measurements systems include “flicker noise-free” microwave amplifiers and advanced two oscillator noise measurement systems     

A study of noise phenomena in microwave components using an advanced noise measurement system

A novel 9 GHz measurement system with thermal noise limited sensitivity has been developed for studying the fluctuations in passive microwave components. The noise floor of the measurement system is flat at offset frequencies above 1 kHz and equal to -193 dBc/Hz. The developed system is capable of measuring the noise in the quietest microwave components in real time. We discuss the results of phase and amplitude noise measurements in precision voltage controlled phase shifters and attenuators. The first reliable experimental evidences regarding the intrinsic flicker phase noise in microwave isolators are also presented.     

Method of power recycling in CoAxial Mach-Zehnder interferometers for low noise measurements

We present the first experimental study of a new type of power recycling microwave interferometer designed for low noise measurements. This system enhances sensitivity to phase fluctuations in a device under test, independent of input power levels. The single sideband thermal white phase noise floor of the system has been lowered by 8 dB (reaching −185 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset frequency) at relatively low power levels (13 dBm).     

Study of the excess noise associated with demodulation of ultra-short infrared pulses

The demodulation of ultra-short light pulses with photodetectors is accompanied by excess phase noise at the pulse repetition rate and harmonics in the spectrum of the photocurrent. The major contribution to this noise is power fluctuations of the detected pulse train that, if not compensated for, can seriously limit the stability of frequency transfer from optical to microwave domain. By making use of an infrared femtosecond laser, we measured the spectral density of the excess phase noise, as well as power-to-phase conversion for different types of InGaAs photodetectors. Noise measurements were performed with a novel type of dual-channel readout system using a fiber coupled beam splitter. Strong suppression of the excess phase noise was observed in both channels of the measurement system when the average power of the femtosecond pulse train was stabilized. The results of this study are important for the development of low-noise microwave sources derived from optical "clocks" and optical frequency synthesis.     

On the flicker noise of ferrite circulators for ultra-stable oscillators

The flicker noise of the ferrite circulator is a critical element in ultra-stable microwave oscillators, in which the signal reflected from the input of the reference cavity is exploited to stabilize the frequency. This paper explains why the circulator noise must be measured in isolation mode, proposes a measurement scheme, and provides experimental results. The observed flicker spans from -162 to -170 dB[rad2]/Hz at 1 Hz off the 9.2 GHz carrier, and at +19 dBm of input power. In the same conditions, the instrument limit is below -180 dB[rad2]/Hz. Experiments also give information on the mechanical stability of the microwave assembly, which is in the range of 10(-11) m. The measurement method can be used as the phase detector of a corrected oscillator; and, in the field of solid-state physics, it can be used for the measurement of random fluctuations in magnetic materials.     

Residual phase noise measurements of VHF, UHF, and microwavecomponents

The results of residual phase noise measurements on a number of VHF, UHF, and microwave amplifiers, both silicon (Si) bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) field effect transistor (FET) based, electronic phase shifters, frequency dividers and multipliers, etc., which are commonly used in a wide variety of frequency source and synthesizer applications are presented. The measurement technique has also been used to evaluate feedback oscillator components, such as the loop and buffer amplifiers, which can play important roles in determining an oscillator's output phase noise spectrum (often in very subtle ways). While some information has previously been published related to component residual phase noise properties, it generally focused on the flicker noise levels of the devices under test, for carrier offset frequencies less than 10 kHz. The work reported herein makes use of an extremely low noise, 500 MHz surface acoustic wave resonator oscillator (SAWRO) test source for residual phase noise measurements, both close-to-and far-from-the-carrier. Using this SAWRO-based test source at 500 MHz, we have been able to achieve a measurement system phase noise floor of -184 dBc/Hz, or better, for carrier offset frequencies greater than 10 kHz, and a system flicker phase noise floor of -150 dBc/Hz, or better, at 1 Hz carrier offset. The paper discusses the results of detailed residual phase noise measurements performed on a number of components using this overall system configuration. Several interesting observations related to the residual phase noise properties of moderate to high power RF amplifiers, i.e., amplifiers with 1 dB gain compression points in the range of +20 to +33 dBm, are highlighted     

Characterization technique of optical whispering gallery mode resonators in the microwave frequency domain for optoelectronic oscillators

Optical Q factor measurements are performed on a whispering gallery mode (WGM) disk resonator using a microwave frequency domain approach instead of using an optical domain approach. An absence of hysteretic behavior and a better linearity are obtained when performing linewidth measurements by using a microwave modulation for scanning the resonances instead of the piezoelectric-based frequency tuning capability of the laser. The WGM resonator is then used to stabilize a microwave optoelectronic oscillator. The microwave output of this system generates a 12.48 GHz signal with -94 dBc/Hz phase noise at 10 kHz offset.     

Phase noise performance of microwave analog frequency dividers: application to the characterization of oscillators up to the millimeter-wave range

The phase noise performance of two different microwave analog frequency dividers is characterized and compared with the values obtained using simple theories of noise in injection-locked systems. The direct measurement of the divider noise with a low phase noise synthesizer is not accurate enough, and the residual noise technique is used. The noise levels observed using this technique, between -120 and -155 dBc/Hz at a 10 kHz offset frequency, demonstrate that this divider noise is much lower than the phase noise of most microwave free running oscillators, even if this noise is still high with respect to the residual noise of amplifiers realized with the same active devices. The down conversion of microwave sources up to 40 GHz, is proposed as an application example.     

The Direct-Detection Noise-Measuring System and Its Threshold

This paper describes a typical direct-detection noise-measuring system, with particular attention given to the use of Schottky-barrier diodes as envelope detectors. The rise of threshold at low modulation frequencies encountered in these systems has been found to be mainly attributable to FM-to-AM conversion occurring in comparatively narrow-band detectors rather than to diode-flicker noise and thus is largely removable. A sensitivity improvement of 10-20 dB may result at low frequencies, yielding a noise-to-carrier ratio threshold range of about -150 to -155 dB/100 Hz at modulation frequencies from 100 Hz to 50 kHz for measurements of AM noise, and below 0.01 Hz/100 Hz for FM noise, of microwave oscillators at C band.     

"Real time" noise measurements with sensitivity exceeding the standard thermal noise limit

A possibility of "real-time" noise measurements with spectral resolution better than a standard thermal noise limit has been experimentally demonstrated at microwave frequencies. The enhancement in the sensitivity of spectral measurements was achieved due to more efficient use of the signal power via the power recycling technique. By utilizing such a technique, the noise floor of a 9 GHz "real time" measurement system was reduced by 3 dB below the standard thermal noise limit. This makes possible the characterization of intrinsic fluctuations in individual low-noise microwave components, such as ferrite circulators, without the need for cascading them or using the cross-correlation signal processing.     

Extremely low thermal noise floor, high power oscillators usingsurface transverse wave devices

This paper presents state-of-the-art results on 1-GHz surface transverse wave (STW) oscillators running at extremely high loop power levels. The high-Q single-mode STW resonators used in these designs have an insertion loss of 3.6 dB, an unloaded Q of 8000, a residual PM noise of -142 dBc/Hz at a 1-Hz carrier offset, and operate at an incident power of up to +31 dBm in the loop. Other low-Q STW resonators and coupled resonator filters (CRF), with insertion losses in the 5-9 dB range, can conveniently handle power levels in excess of two Watts. These devices were incorporated into voltage controlled oscillators (VCO's) running from a 9.6-V dc source and provide an RF output power of +23 dBm at an RF/dc efficiency of 28%. Their tuning range was 750 kHz and the PM noise floor was -180 dBc/Hz. The oscillators, stabilized with the high-Q devices and using specially designed AB-class power amplifiers, delivered an output power of +29 dBm and exhibited a PM noise floor of -184 dBc/Hz and a 1-Hz phase noise level of -17 dBc/Hz. The 1-Hz phase noise level was improved to -33 dBc/Hz using a commercially available loop amplifier. In this case, the output power was +22 dBm. In all cases studied, the loop amplifier was found to be the factor limiting the close-to-carrier oscillator phase noise performance     

Frequency-Domain Measurement of the Frequency Stability of a Maser Oscillator

In this paper we present a direct measurement of the spectral density of both the fractional frequency fluctuations and the phase fluctuations for a rubidium (Rb) maser oscillator. A truncated polynomial is fitted to each independent set of data obtained over a Fourier frequency range between 0.1 Hz and 100 Hz. They are Sy(f) = 1.9 ×10-25f-2 + 3.4 × 10-27f2 and S? = 1.2 × 10-5f-4 + 1.9 × 10-7f0, respectively. A random walk of frequency noise is dominent for frequency below 2.8 Hz while a white phase noise is dominent for the higher frequency range. These results are used to predict time-domain measurements which are then compared to experimental values.     

HighQsapphire loaded superconducting cavities and application to ultrastable clocks

This paper describes the microwave properties of a sapphire loaded super conducting cavity resonator. We report measurements of energy confinement, evanescent field scale lengths, and radiation losses. We report high quality factors, in excess of 10⁹at cryogenic temperatures, for a resonator based on a sapphire element mounted inside a superconducting cavity. Resonators of this type have potentially valuable applications as ultrahigh stability oscillators, high Q filters and as low phase noise frequency sources.     

Investigation of Environmental Noise in Small Electrical Conductors

Large excess resistance noise has been observed in small conductors surrounded by air. The conductor resistance was found to have a well-defined average power spectral density over the observed frequency range from 10^-4 to 200 Hz and the dependence of the noise was measured as a function of bias current, temperature, temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR), spatial correlation, and state of the surrounding air. In this paper, three different mechanisms were identified that produce the noise. The room-temperature fluctuations were measured and found to have a spectral density nearly proportional to f^-2 over the observed six-order-of-magnitude frequency range. The lowest frequency noise around 10^-4 Hz could be predicted from the measured temperature fluctuations using the TCR. Above 10^-3 Hz and below 1 Hz, enclosing the wire in a box greatly reduces the noise, and placing the wire in a vacuum eliminates the predominant noise. This noise was directly related to the temperature of the conductor, somewhat proportional to the TCR, independent of bias current, and has a correlation length smaller than the specimen size. The highest frequency noise does not depend on the conductor temperature, TCR, or the presence of air. It had a very strong dependence on bias current and had a long spatial correlation. The mechanism that generates this noise is not understood     

AM noise impact on low level phase noise measurements

The influence of the source AM noise in microwave residual phase noise experiments is investigated. The noise floor degradation problem, caused by the parasitic detection of this type of noise by an imperfectly balanced mixer, is solved thanks to a refinement of the quadrature condition. The parasitic noise contribution attributable to the AM to PM (phase modulation) conversion occurring in the device under test is minimized through the development of a dedicated microwave source featuring an AM noise level as low as -170 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset from a 3.5 GHz carrier     

Experimental study of noise properties of a Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser

The fidelity of a coherent link between optical and microwave frequencies is largely determined by noise processes in a mode-locked femtosecond laser. This work presents an experimental study of the noise properties of a Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser. It includes measurements of pulse repetition rate fluctuations and shot noise exhibited by the Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser. Based on the results of noise measurements, the fractional frequency stability of a microwave signal produced by the femtosecond laser has been evaluated.     

Low-frequency magnetic interference in a SQUID gradiometer caused by a Cryotiger gas-mixture cooler

A Cryotiger^® gas-mixture cooler was applied for cooling of three high-T_c SQUID magnetometers. These SQUID magnetometers were mounted on an alumina holder in an axial gradiometer configuration. From 20 Hz upward, the system noise was about 0.1 pT/√Hz. Below this frequency, the noise gradually increased to a level of 10 pT/√Hz at 1 Hz. This low-frequency excess noise appeared to be due to remnant magnetization of the Cryotiger cold head. Movement of magnetic cold-head parts with respect to the SQUIDs are induced by pressure fluctuations in the heat exchanger lines. By using one SQUID as a reference for the cooler noise, a first-order gradiometer can be formed in which the cooler noise is eliminated. To establish a proper second-order gradiometer either a fourth SQUID has to be added, or the spatial separation between cold head and SQUIDs has to be increased significantly.     

Advanced noise reduction techniques for ultra-low phase noise optical-to-microwave division with femtosecond fiber combs

We report what we believe to be the lowest phase noise optical-to-microwave frequency division using fiber-based femtosecond optical frequency combs: a residual phase noise of -120 dBc/Hz at 1 Hz offset from an 11.55 GHz carrier frequency. Furthermore, we report a detailed investigation into the fundamental noise sources which affect the division process itself. Two frequency combs with quasi-identical configurations are referenced to a common ultrastable cavity laser source. To identify each of the limiting effects, we implement an ultra-low noise carrier-suppression measurement system, which avoids the detection and amplification noise of more conventional techniques. This technique suppresses these unwanted sources of noise to very low levels. In the Fourier frequency range of ～200 Hz to 100 kHz, a feed-forward technique based on a voltage-controlled phase shifter delivers a further noise reduction of 10 dB. For lower Fourier frequencies, optical power stabilization is implemented to reduce the relative intensity noise which causes unwanted phase noise through power-to-phase conversion in the detector. We implement and compare two possible control schemes based on an acousto-optical modulator and comb pump current. We also present wideband measurements of the relative intensity noise of the fiber comb.     

气流床撞击火焰声学特性与压力波动分析

利用多喷嘴对置式气流床气化炉热模试验装置,对两喷嘴对置撞击火焰声学特性和压力波动进行了测量与实验研究,并通过Hilbert-Huang变换对火焰噪声信号及压力信号进行频谱分析。结果表明,气化炉内中高频压力波动主要由火焰撞击区内复杂的燃烧状况引发,并产生50~100 Hz频段的火焰噪声。射流火焰噪声受气化炉内低频压力波动影响,并且因来自撞击区的反向流的作用,火焰噪声的幅值和波形都会受到一定的影响。撞击区的火焰噪声信号与燃烧状况有一定的对应关系,可作为气化炉内火焰状况诊断的一种方式。     

Measurement of Effective Temperatures of Microwave Noise Sources

This report describes a system now in operation for the purpose of calibrating microwave noise sources at three selected frequencies in the range 8.2 to 12.4 Gc. Included are a discussion of the reference standard noise source, an error analysis of the standard source and the comparison system, and evidence of system performance. Results of measurements indicate that the excess noise ratio of a specific commercial argon filled noise source is 15.6 db at 9.8 Gc. A calibration service is now available for tube-in-mount noise sources at the three selected frequencies 9.0 Gc, 9.8 Gc, and 11.2 Gc.