A new approach for a phase controlled self-oscillating mixer

The analytical and experimental demonstration of subharmonic synchronization and phase shifting of a push-pull self-oscillating mixer is presented for the first time. Inherent high mixing gain of the self-oscillating mixer circuit is exploited to generate a strong signal at the same frequency of the reference signal, which is related to the local oscillator's (LO) phase information. A phase error between this signal and the reference signal is extracted in a phase comparator before phase locking. Analytical modeling of frequency and phase stabilization of the push-pull self-oscillating mixer is presented, which is also experimentally verified for a self-oscillating mixer at 12 GHz. This self-oscillating mixer circuit demonstrates efficient phase locking, 0°-180° continuous phase shifting capability in addition to the reported large locking range (>10 MHz), low close-in to carrier phase noise (<7 dB degradation of a 6 GHz synthesized reference signal), and a high mixer conversion gain (>17 dB at 17 GHz). The demonstrated subharmonic phase locking approach replaces the need for a frequency multiplier or divider before the phase comparator. The synchronized push-pull self-oscillating mixer circuit is applicable to the millimeter-wave frequency distributed transmitters and receivers, where low-loss phase shifting and efficient subharmonic phase and frequency locking are hard to achieve     

An efficient self-oscillating mixer for communications

The optical control of the distributed electronics in phased array antennas requires specialized circuits which are compatible with the T/R level data mixing architecture. This paper presents a novel circuit, a push-pull self-oscillating mixer, that can provide the following important advantages: 1) very stable free running oscillation and low FM noise without using a frequency stabilizing dielectric resonator; 2) large subharmonic injection locking range; 3) high frequency conversion efficiency; and 4) low noise figure for the self-oscillating mixer. This proposed circuit efficiently oscillates and mixes with a low prime power consumption. A circuit topology based on this concept was analyzed and designed at 12 GHz using a MESFET pair. Efficient subharmonic injection locking was demonstrated by selecting the optimum operating point corresponding to efficient mixing. The measured down-conversion gain was as high as 13 dB with a double sideband noise figure of 8 dB. This topology can be directly applied for MMIC applications     

Automatic frequency control in a semiconductor laser and an optical amplifier

Automatic frequency control (AFC) in an injection locked or resonant type amplifier in an AlGaAs semiconductor laser was achieved through using the terminal voltage change induced by light injection. Signal-to-noise ratio in the control signal of 10 dB was obtained when the input optical power was -47 dBm and the optical gain Was 51 dB. The AFC was maintained for 3 h with an 0.3-percent output power fluctuation for 2°C ambient temperature change and 65-MHz frequency stability. Step response showed that the system response time was 1.5 s. Sensitivity to input optical power deteriorates at -49 dBm, with a 53-dB locking gain, because of frequency deviation caused by temperature modulation. The second derivative of the induced voltage and it's relation to the optical frequency is constant at5 times 10^{-10}[V/(MHz)²] for all input power levels in a buried-heterostructure (BH)-AlGaAs laser. Terminal voltage change induced by light injection is calculated by simple rate equations with a Gaussian-Halperin-Lax (GHL) bandtail model. Good agreement with experimental results was seen.     

Indirect Subharmonic Optical Injection Locking of a Millimeter-Wave IMPATT Oscillator

Large aperture phased-array antennas operating at millimeter-wave frequencies are designed for space-based communications and imaging. Array elements are composed of active transmit-receive (T/R) modules that are phase and frequency synchronized to a reference signal at the central processing unit by a fiber-optic (FO) distribution network. The implementation of FO links, synchronizing the millimeter-wave Iocal oscillators (LO's), imposes a great challenge. This paper presents results of indirect optical injection locking of a free-running 38-GHz (Ka-band) IMPATT oscillator over the Iocking range of 2-132 MHz, depending on the injected power level (amplifier gain). In the experiment, the nonlinearity of both the laser diode and the IMPATT oscillator is exploited to achieve 12th subharmonic injection locking. The overall system FM noise degradation of the reference signal is 16 dB at 500-Hz offset. The FM noise degradation is dominated by the theoretical limit of 20 log N, where N is the frequency multiplication factor used in subharmonic injection locking. Methods by which optical injection locking may be extended into 60 and 90 GHz are demonstrated.     

次谐波调制下光注入DFB-LD结构的可调谐光电振荡器

为实现具有高频谱纯度、低相位噪声的宽带可调谐微波信号生成,提出并通过实验验证了一种次谐波信号调制下光注入半导体激光器结构的光电振荡器,其原理为通过利用光注入半导体激光器的单周期（P1）振荡工作状态和波长选择放大特性实现可调微波信号生成,并进一步通过在光电振荡环路中引入次谐波信号调制对系统生成微波信号的频率稳定性、边模抑制比与频谱纯度进行优化。实验结果表明,文中方案提出的光电振荡器可以生成输出功率大于5 dBm,频率调谐范围为12~18 GHz的微波信号。同时,系统生成的微波信号的3 dB带宽为100 kHz,边模抑制比可达 51 dB,且信号在频偏量为100 Hz和10 kHz处的相位噪声分别为?78 dBc/Hz和?109 dBc/Hz。此外,光电振荡器生成微波信号的频率调谐范围只受系统中使用的各类光电器件工作带宽的限制,通过采用具有更大带宽的光电器件可以实现更高频率的微波信号生成。     

A 50-GHz silicon IMPATT diode oscillator and amplifier

Recent experimental observations on a silicon impact avalanche transit-time diode oscillator and amplifier CW-operated at 50 GHz are presented. 1) CW oscillation power of 100 mW was obtained at an overall efficiency of 2 percent. The oscillation frequency was continuously tunable over a 1.3-GHz range by a sliding short. 2) Phase-locking has been achieved with a maximum normalized gain-bandwidth product of 0.1. The minimum locking signal power required for a 500-MHz locking bandwidth was 20 dB below the oscillator output. 3) Electronic tuning of the oscillator frequency was demonstrated by placing a millimeter-wave varactor diode in the tuning circuit. The output frequency versus the bias voltage on the varactor diode was linear with maximum frequency deviation of 300 MHz. Frequency modulation of the oscillator by driving the varactor with a sinusoidal source was obtained at a modulation frequency of 50 MHz. 4) Stable amplification with 13-dB gain was obtained, centered at 52.885 GHz with a 3-dB bandwidth of 1 GHz. The maximum output power obtained was 16 mW. Higher gain of about 17 dB was obtained at a reduced bandwidth. The noise figure of the amplifier was 36 dB. Equivalent circuits for the oscillator and the amplifier are derived. The calculated results agree reasonably well with the experimental observations.     

Compact optical millimetre-wave source using a dual-modesemiconductor laser

The authors demonstrate the optical generation of extremely narrow linewidth millimetre-wave signals between 40 and 60 GHz using a single-chip semiconductor laser. A dual-mode long-cavity multisection DFB semiconductor laser is driven at a subharmonic of the free-running-mode beat signal frequency to produce phase-locked millimetre waves with a 3 dB linewidth of less than 10 Hz and a 3 dB locking range of ~500 MHz     

Injection locking characteristics of an AlGaAs semiconductor laser

Injection locking of an AlGaAs double-heterostructure laser was studied with respect to locking frequency width and locking gain. The relation of the locking bandwidth versus the ratio of locked laser to injected power was consistent with the analysis on injection locking phenomena by Adler. Measured maximum locking bandwidth was 3 GHz, when locking gain was 23 dB. The 40 dB maximum gain was observed with the 500 MHz locking bandwidth. By measuring the beat notes between two temperature-stabilized free running AlGaAs lasers, the linewidth was estimated as 10 MHz.     

Subharmonic synchronous and hybrid mode-locking of a monolithic DBR laser operating at millimeter-wave frequencies

A detailed comparison of subharmonic synchronous and subharmonic hybrid mode-locking of a monolithic distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser operating at 33 GHz is presented. Optical injection at the 20th subharmonic frequency (1.65 GHz) has produced a locking range of 10 MHz with negligible amplitude modulation. In comparison, electrical injection at the 4th subharmonic frequency (5.83 GHz) has shown higher levels of amplitude modulation and a narrower locking range (4 MHz). While subharmonic hybrid mode-locking remains a simple and cost effective solution for the generation of low timing jitter high-repetition rate optical pulse trains, subharmonic synchronous mode-locking shows superior performance with regard to reduced amplitude modulation and larger locking range.     

Frequency stabilization of tunable DBR laser using multiwavelengthlight injection locking technique

This paper proposes a frequency stabilization scheme for tunable three-section DBR laser diodes (3S-DBR LD) that use multiwavelength light injection locking. The oscillating wavelength of the SS-DBR LD is discretely switched between cavity modes when the injection current into DBR section is changed, and locked to one wavelength of the multiwavelength light injected from the DBR section facet under the injection locking condition. The light injection properties of the capture range and the relationships of relaxation oscillation versus input power and detuning are investigated experimentally. Injection locking on the multistate wavelength of a tunable DBR LD is performed using a two wavelength multiplexed light. As a result, we demonstrate 1 GHz capture range and more than 26 dB rejection ratio for the multiplexed injected light     

Bandwidth enhancement of injection-locked 1.3 μm quantum-dot DFB laser

Optical injection locking of a quantum-dot distributed-feedback laser at 1.3 mum is reported. Using an injection ratio of 5.3 dB, an optical detuning of -40 pm, and a slave laser biased at 20 mA, the modulation bandwidth of the injection-locked laser was 16.3 GHz. This is over four times higher than the modulation bandwidth of the free-running quantum-dot laser. At a slave laser bias of 5.0 mA, injection locking resulted in a resonance frequency of 21.9 GHz, over eleven times higher than the relaxation frequency of the free-running slave laser.     

A 16 element quasi-optical FET oscillator power combining arraywith external injection locking

The authors present analysis, design and experimental results of a 16 element planar oscillator array for quasi-optical power combining. Each element in the array consists of a single FET oscillator with an input port for injection of the locking signal and an output port which is connected to a patch radiator. The array is synchronized using a 16-way power dividing network which distributes the locking signal to the oscillating elements. The array is constructed using a two-sided microstrip configuration, with the oscillators and feed network on one side of a ground plane, and the patch radiators on the opposite side. An effective radiated power (ERP) of 28.2 W CW with an isotropic conversion gain of 9.9 dB was measured at 6 GHz. For an injected power of 10.3 dBm, a locking range of 453 MHz at a center frequency of 6.015 GHz was obtained; a bandwidth of 7.5%. Because of the simple nature of the individual oscillator elements, this approach is well suited to MMIC implementation     

An Injection-Locked Frequency-Tracking Σ∆ Direct Digital Frequency Synthesizer

A bandpass (BP) sigma-delta modulator (SigmaDeltaM)-based direct digital frequency synthesizer (DDS) architecture is presented. The DDS output is passed through a single-bit, second-order BPSigmaDeltaM, shaping quantization noise out of the signal band. The single-bit BPSigmaDeltaM is then injection locked to an LC-tank oscillator, which provides a tracking BP filter response within its locking range, suppressing the BPSigmaDeltaM out of band quantization noise. The instantaneous digital frequency control word input of the DDS is used to tune the noise shaper center frequency, achieving up to 20% tuning range around the fundamental. The BPSigmaDeltaM-based synthesizer is fabricated in a 0.25-mum digital CMOS process with four layers of metal. With a second-order BP noise shaper and a 44-MHz LC tank oscillator, an SFDR of 73 dB at a 2-MHz bandwidth and phase noise lower than -105 dBc/Hz at a 10-kHz offset is achieved     

Microwave Frequency Division and Multiplication Using an Optically Injected Semiconductor Laser

Nonlinear dynamics of semiconductor lasers is applied for microwave frequency division. Optical injection is used to drive a slave laser into the dynamical period-two state. A fundamental microwave frequency and its subharmonic are generated in the power spectrum. Both frequencies will be simultaneously locked when an external microwave near either frequency is applied on the bias. In our experiment, precise microwave frequency division is demonstrated by modulating the laser at the fundamental of 18.56 GHz. A locked subharmonic at 9.28 GHz with a low phase variance of 0.007$hbox rad^2$is obtained from a 10-dBm input. A large locking range of 0.61 GHz is measured under a 4-dBm modulation. Similarly, precise frequency multiplication is demonstrated by modulating at 9.65 GHz. At an input power of$-$5 dBm, a multiplied signal at 19.30 GHz is obtained with a phase variance of 0.027$hbox rad^2$and a locking range of 0.22 GHz.     

S波段大功率注入锁频磁控管的输出特性

在多路注入锁频大功率连续波磁控管的相干功率合成实验中,输出特性分析有利于提升合成效率。搭建了一款S波段20 kW连续波磁控管注入实验系统,该系统包含幅频可调的微波源和移相器,由磁控管信号发生系统、注入锁定系统以及相位差检测系统3个小系统组成。利用外部注入信号,分别对磁控管输出信号的相位稳定度、频谱和相位噪声进行实验分析,实现了对实际磁控管在外部注入前后的特性分析。其中,相位差波动最小不足4°,最大17°,锁频带宽在2.9~13 MHz之间变化,在偏移频率1 MHz内对相位噪声抑制超过40 dB;并对注入锁频信号与输出信号之间的关系进行了总结,为多路大功率磁控管的功率合成提供理论依据。     

Optical injection locking of a 38-GHz-band InP-based HEMToscillator using a 1.55-μm DSB-SC modulated lightwave

Optical injection locking was experimentally performed using a 38-GHz-band InP-based HEMT MMIC oscillator and a 1.55-μm lightwave. Two optical modulation schemes were compared for optical injection locking, and no difference was found except for the optical modulation frequency. With suppressed carrier modulation of the lightwave, phase noise of less than -73.2 dBc/Hz at a 10-kHz frequency offset and a 14-MHz locking range were achieved     

A fully integrated 24-GHz eight-element phased-array receiver in silicon

This paper reports the first fully integrated 24-GHz eight-element phased-array receiver in a SiGe BiCMOS technology. The receiver utilizes a heterodyne topology and the signal combining is performed at an IF of 4.8 GHz. The phase-shifting with 4 bits of resolution is realized at the LO port of the first down-conversion mixer. A ring LC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) generates 16 different phases of the LO. An integrated 19.2-GHz frequency synthesizer locks the VCO frequency to a 75-MHz external reference. Each signal path achieves a gain of 43 dB, a noise figure of 7.4 dB, and an IIP3 of -11 dBm. The eight-path array achieves an array gain of 61 dB and a peak-to- ratio of 20 dB and improves the signal-to-noise ratio at the output by 9 dB.     

A Frequency Divider Implemented With a Subharmonic Mixer and a Divide-by-Two Divider

This letter proposes a divide-by-four injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) with the use of a subharmonic mixer and a divide-by-two frequency divider (D2FD). The D2FD circuit consists of a two-stage differential CMOS ring oscillator with n-MOS switches directly coupled to its differential outputs, the measured phase noise of the D2FD is -97 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset from the free running frequency of 1.08GHz. The low-voltage CMOS divide-by-four FD (D4FD) has been implemented with the UMC 0.18-mum 1P6M CMOS technology and the power consumption is 9 mW at the supply voltage of 1.2 V. At the input power of 0 dBm, the D4FD can function properly with about 330-MHz locking range from 4.15 to 4.48GHz     

Optical synchronization of millimeter-wave oscillators fordistributed architecture

A review of various methods of phase and frequency synchronization of active MMIC based transmit/receive modules is presented, and particular emphasis is placed on the synchronization of oscillators through the use of an indirect subharmonic optical injection locking technique. In this approach, the nonlinear behavior of large-signal modulated laser diodes and solid-state oscillators is exploited to extend the bandwidth of the synchronizing link to the millimeter-wave frequency range. Experimental results of the phase and frequency coherency of two 21.5 GHz FET oscillators are reported. Optimum performance is achieved at a subharmonic factor of 1/4, with a locking range of 84 MHz and a phase noise degradation of only 14 dB. The phase coherency measurement of two injection-locked oscillators points to a phase shift, which is introduced as a result of the frequency detuning between the slave and master oscillator signals. A scheme to correct for this phase error is presented     

A 15-bit Linear 20-MS/s Pipelined ADC Digitally Calibrated With Signal-Dependent Dithering

Pseudo-random dithers have been used to measure capacitor mismatch and opamp gain errors of the pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) in background and to calibrate them digitally. However, this error measurement suffers from signal range reduction and long signal decorrelation time. A signal-dependent dithering scheme allows the injection of a large dither without sacrificing the signal range and shortens the signal decorrelation time. A 1.5-bit multiplying digital-to-analog converter (MDAC) stage is modified for signal-dependent dithering with two additional comparators, and its capacitor mismatch and gain errors are measured and calibrated as one error. When sampled at 20 MS/s, a 15-bit prototype ADC achieves a spurious-free dynamic range of 98 dB with 14.5-MHz input and a peak signal-to-noise plus distortion ratio of 73 dB with 1-MHz input. Integral nonlinearity is improved from 25 to 1.3 least significant bits (LSBs) after calibrating the first six stages. The chip is fabricated in 0.18-mu CMOS process, occupies an active area of 2.3 x 1.7 mm² , and consumes 285 mW at 1.8 V.