Wideband low-phase-noise high-power W-band signal sources

Author

Bryerton, E.W. ; Thacker, D.L. ; Saini, K.S. ; Bradley, R.F.

Author_Institution

Nat. Radio Astron. Obs., Charlottesville, VA, USA

Volume

3

fYear

2001

fDate

20-24 May 2001

Firstpage

1817

Abstract

This paper describes the development of electronically-tunable wideband low-phase-noise millimeter-wave signal sources. These sources are designed to drive cooled Schottky multipliers to supply the LO for the ALMA telescope array. Each phase-locked driver consists of a YTO, active multiplier chain (AMC), and a power amplifier. Measurements of a prototype driver electronically tunable from 72-85 GHz with greater than 50 mW output power are presented. Additive phase noise of individual amplifiers and multipliers is described. Long-term phase drift measurements are reported. Preliminary W-band amplitude noise measurements using a SIS mixer with a YTO-based driver chain and Gunn oscillator LO are also presented. All measurements indicate that the stringent ALMA LO specifications can be met with this architecture.

Keywords

driver circuits; millimetre wave generation; phase noise; signal sources; 50 mW; 72 to 85 GHz; ALMA telescope array; Gunn oscillator; LO signal; SIS mixer; Schottky multiplier; W-band; YIG-tuned oscillator; active multiplier chain; amplitude noise; electronic tuning; phase drift; phase noise; phase-locked driver; power amplifier; wideband high-power millimeter-wave signal source; Broadband amplifiers; Driver circuits; Millimeter wave measurements; Optical design; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Power measurement; Prototypes; Telescopes; Wideband;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 2001 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Phoenix, AZ, USA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-6538-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2001.967260

Filename

967260