Self-Injection Locking of a Low-Power Microwave Oscillator by Using 4-Wave Mixing in an Atomic Vapor

Published

May 29, 2007

Author(s)

Alan Brannon, Vladislav Gerginov, V Shah, Svenja A. Knappe, Z Popovic, Leo W. Hollberg, John E. Kitching

Abstract

We demonstrate self-injection locking of a compact microwave oscillator by using feedback generated from four-wave mixing in an atomic vapor. The four-wave mixing process creates an effective microwave filter with extremely high off-resonant signal suppression. This type of locking results in a faster locking time, increased short-term stability, improved close-in phase noise, reduced spurious signals, and possible reduced complexity as compared to current techniques used in miniature atomic clocks. Other possible benefits and drawbacks are mentioned.

Proceedings Title

Proc. 2007 Joint Mtg. IEEE Intl. Freq. Cont. Symp. and EFTF Conf.

Conference Dates

May 27-June 1, 2007

Conference Location

Geneva

Conference Title

TimeNav'07

Pub Type

Conferences

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Local Download

Keywords

4-wave mixing, injection locking, phase noise, VCO

Citation

Brannon, A. , Gerginov, V. , Shah, V. , Knappe, S. , Popovic, Z. , Hollberg, L. and Kitching, J. (2007), Self-Injection Locking of a Low-Power Microwave Oscillator by Using 4-Wave Mixing in an Atomic Vapor, Proc. 2007 Joint Mtg. IEEE Intl. Freq. Cont. Symp. and EFTF Conf., Geneva, -1, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=50547 (Accessed October 27, 2025)