Improvements to the Tunnel Diode Oscillator technique for high frequencies and pulsed magnetic fields with digital acquisition

TL;DR

This paper presents enhancements to tunnel diode oscillator techniques for high-frequency and pulsed magnetic field applications, utilizing digital acquisition and simulation to improve performance and demodulation methods.

Contribution

The paper introduces specific circuit improvements and a numerical demodulation technique for high-frequency TDOs in pulsed magnetic fields, supported by SPICE simulations.

Findings

Enhanced TDO performance up to 1.2 GHz

Effective digital demodulation of oscillations

Insights from SPICE simulations for oscillator design

Abstract

We discuss improvements to the short-term performance of tunnel diode oscillator transducers with an emphasis on frequencies from 30 MHz to 1.2 GHz using LC type tank circuits. We specifically consider the TDO in pulsed high magnetic fields with fast digital acquisition. Since overdriven oscillators are necessary in pulsed fields to maintain oscillations, we examine the circuit using SPICE simulation during the design process and to gain insight into its behavior. We also discuss a numerical technique for demodulating the oscillations into frequency and amplitude.