Design and Performance of a Digital Phase Lock Loop for Gunn Oscillators

TL;DR

This paper presents the design, implementation, and testing of a digital phase lock loop used in submillimeter astronomical telescopes, enabling advanced interferometry and high-quality imaging at millimeter wavelengths.

Contribution

It introduces a robust digital phase lock loop design that has been successfully deployed in multiple observatories for over a decade, supporting pioneering astronomical observations.

Findings

Enabled first phase closure observations at 690 GHz

Demonstrated band-to-band phase transfer at submillimeter wavelengths

Supported interferometry with photonic millimeter-wave local oscillators

Abstract

The digital phase lock loop described in this paper has been in use on the Submillimeter Array (SMA) front-end receivers for over a decade and has been a key element in obtaining all of the high quality images that have been published from this telescope over the years. The technical achievements enabled by these devices include the first phase closure observations in the 690 GHz band, the first attempts at band-to-band phase transfer at submillimeter wavelengths, and the first successful demonstration of interferometry using a fully photonic millimeter-wave local oscillator. Copies of these devices are also in place at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in support of the eSMA project and submillimeter VLBI experiments. Additional units of this design were used by the Princeton Millimeter Interferometer and the Microwave Anisotropy Telescope. In total, over three dozen units have been constructed and used in astronomical studies. In this paper, we briefly describe the background theory, design, performance, and calibration steps, and provide useful testing and repair information.