Unified Theory of Oscillator Phase Noise II: Flicker Noise

We present a general theory of oscillator phase-noise for perturbations resulting from both white and flicker noise. Although fundamentally different, both noise sources share in common an underlying principle of analyzing noise in the basis of the oscillator. These similarities allow for an integrated description of noise using a common set of equations. With knowledge of the oscillation power, roundtrip delay, and spectrum of injected noise, the phase noise of an oscillator can be determined to high accuracy. We compare our theory to phase-noise measurements of several RF oscillators with these three parameters independently varied. In addition, we also test the validity of our theory against a hybrid optoelectronic oscillator operating under entirely different principles. Excellent agreement is found in all cases.