Analysis and Design of Parametric Amplifiers with the Aid of a 709 Computer

The linear circuit model usually used to characterize the small signal performance of single-diode parametric amplifiers consists of a single sinusoidally varying capacitance imbedded in a fixed parameter network. A computer program for precise analysis of this circuit model is presented. The method of analysis used is one of the exact methods that gives precise solutions regardless of the filtering properties of the passive circuit. The program is set up so as to be useful in all stages of amplifier design. The admittance of the fixed parameter circuit is included as a separate subroutine. Thus it can be put into the computer as a formula in the initial design phases or as a graph of laboratory measurements to aid in the final alignment of an actual circuit. Besides computing the response at the normal signal and idler frequencies, the program also computes the amplitudes of the voltages at the various other frequencies generated by the mixing action of the time-variant element.