A simple scheme of low phase noise microwave synthesizers based on the sub-sampling phase lock loop

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple, low-cost, low phase noise microwave synthesizer at 6.835 GHz using a sub-sampling phase lock loop, suitable for atomic clocks and physics experiments.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel, simplified architecture for microwave synthesizers based on sub-sampling PLL, reducing complexity, power consumption, and cost.

Findings

Achieved phase noise of -121 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset

Demonstrated suitability for Rb atomic clocks with high stability

Simplified design reduces power and cost

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate a simple scheme of 6.835 GHz microwave frequency synthesizer based on the sub-sampling phase lock loop (PLL) technique. The application of the sub-sampling PLL is the key to simplify the architecture of the synthesizer in this scheme. A 100 MHz oven controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO) with ultra-low phase noise is used as the initial signal source. Then a dielectric resonant oscillator (DRO) of 6.8 GHz is directly phase locked to the 100 MHz OCXO utilizing the sub-sampling PLL. Benefiting from the sub-sampling PLL, the processes of microwave frequency multiplication and phase lock which are necessary in the development of microwave synthesizer are greatly simplified. Therefore, the architecture of the synthesizer is very simple. Correspondingly, the power consumption and cost of the synthesizer are low. The absolute phase noises of the 6.835 GHz output signal are measured to be -47 dBc/Hz, -77 dBc/Hz, -104 dBc/Hz and -121 dBc/Hz at 1 Hz, 10 Hz, 100 Hz and 1 kHz offset frequencies, respectively. he synthesizer can be used as the local oscillator of the Rb atomic clocks. For the Rb atomic clocks operated in the continuous or pulsed optically pumped (POP) mode, Tthe short-term frequency stability limited by the absolute phase noises of the synthesizer through the intermodulation or the Dick effect is theoretically calculated to be better than 5.0E10^-14/t^1/2. This low phase noise microwave frequency synthesizer can be used in other experiments of fundamental physics measurement.