[time-nuts] Phase noise with a lock-in amplifier.
David Kirkby
david.kirkby at onetel.net
Sat Apr 16 00:30:52 UTC 2005
Does anyone know if you can use a lock-in amplifier, say something like
the Standford SR830 dual phase unit
http://www.thinksrs.com/products/SR810830.htm
to measure phase noise from an oscillator?
I was thinking of something like this:
1) Take an oscillator (say 10MHz)
2) Split the output into 2 with a power splitter.
3) Feed one output from the power splitter into the RF port of a mixer.
4) Feed the other output from the power splitter into the LO port of a
mixer, via a cable that is a odd integer multiple of a quarter wave
The outputs from the mixer, assuming the oscillator was perfect would be
the sum (2f) and difference (DC). But since the oscillator has noise
on it the noise will not mix to DC since the noise will arrive a
Hence the output from the mixer is the noise on the oscillator mixed
down to DC.
Use a lockin amp, set its internal reference to some figure (say 1KHz)
and measure the magnitude on a lock-in amplifier. That gives you an rms
noise voltage in whatever bandwidth you want - you set the bandwidth
with the lock-in filters, which on that model can be varied from 10us to
30ks (i.e. 10us to 8.3 hours).
That's not the usual way of using a lock-in, but it is basically a very
high Q filter, with a centre frequency set to whatever you use as its
internal reference. On that particular unit, the reference can be from
0.001Hz to 102KHz.
I've built a simple lock-in using noting more than a 741 op-amp, a
couple of FETs and a few resistors. The reference input open/closed the
FET switches so the op-amp worked with either a gain of +1 or -1. It
worked quite well. Not as good as the SRS830, but then it cost next to
nothing to build.
The main reason I ask about the use of a lock-in amp is that we have
almost as many lock-in amps at work as DVM's.
--
Dr. David Kirkby,
G8WRB
Please check out http://www.g8wrb.org/
of if you live in Essex http://www.southminster-branch-line.org.uk/
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