Phase control in microwave circuits is an impotant process. Especially, in certain applications such as phase array antennas, it is the main principle of opeation. In antenna arrays, each array element is fed by an individual oscillator. By controlling the phase of each oscillator, the radiation pattern and the RF power can be combined in space in certain directions. For such applications, phase shifters have been utilized extensively. However, their high costs, difficulties in design and efficiency are impotant disadvantages. More recently, another technique, &quot / Injection Locking&quot / or &quot / Phase Locking&quot / suggests to use a single reference signal injected into each oscilator element. Through this signal, the phase of the individual oscillators can be controlled and set to a desired value. Therefore, power combining in space or known as &quot / Spaial Power Combining&quot / is possible by using &quot / Phase Locking&quot / of individual oscillator elements. In this thesis, this new phase control technique is examined in theory and in application of a 1GHz oscillator system. A reference signal is injected into a voltage controlled oscillator, and the phase progression is obtained by tuning the oscilator&#039 / s free running frequency.

This thesis describes the design and measurement of an X-band IQ up/down converter that has been fabricated on a 180nm RF CMOS process. This converter includes components for mixing, frequency doubling, quadrature generation, amplification, and limiting. The specific circuit topologies used include passive double-balanced mixers, RC polyphase filters, and injection locked LC oscillators. The converter is part of a transceiver chain that will make up the dedicated circuitry for each active antenna element of a phased-array radar. An active antenna element combines a radiator with its own transceiver subsystem. A phased-array radar, NetRad, is under development at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and will require thousands of active antenna elements. This motivates the need for low-cost integrated solutions. A silicon-based RF CMOS process provides a low-cost candidate technology to fulfill this requirement.

Harmonically mode-locked semiconductor lasers with external ring cavities offer high repetition rate pulse trains while maintaining low optical linewidth via long cavity storage times. Single frequency injection locking generates widely-spaced and tunable frequency combs from these harmonically mode-locked lasers, while stabilizing the optical frequencies. The output is stabilized long-term with the help of a feedback loop utilizing either a novel technique based on Pound-Drever-Hall stabilization or by polarization spectroscopy. Error signals of both techniques are simulated and compared to experimentally obtained signals. Frequency combs spaced by 2.5 GHz and ~10 GHz are generated, with demonstrated optical sidemode suppression of unwanted modes of 36 dB, as well as RF supermode noise suppression of 14 dB for longer than 1 hour. In addition to the injection locking of actively harmonically mode-locked lasers, the injection locking technique for regeneratively mode-locked lasers, or Coupled OptoElectronic Oscillators (COEOs), is also demonstrated and characterized extensively.

A disponibilização de fontes ópticas multi-comprimento de onda de baixo custo certamente é um dos aspectos fundamentais para viabilizar a implantação de redes WDMPON (Wavelength Division Multiplexing-Passive Optical Network). Na literatura, são encontradas propostas de algumas tecnologias para a construção de tais dispositivos como a utilização de fontes ópticas sintonizáveis, uso de um vetor de lasers DFB (Distributed Feedback Laser) ou, até mesmo, o fatiamento espectral de uma fonte de banda larga. Contudo, essas propostas apresentam custo elevado, ou limitações de operação, tornando-se inapropriadas para a aplicação de interesse. Uma alternativa que vem sendo amplamente utilizada é o travamento óptico de diodos laser de Fabry-Pérot (FP-LD - Fabry-Pérot laser diode), realizado por meio da injeção de sinal óptico externo provindo do fatiamento espectral de uma fonte de banda larga. O travamento óptico possibilita o controle espectral do FP-LD, e o seu baixo custo torna essa fonte óptica atrativa na implantação de redes WDM. O entendimento do mecanismo de travamento torna-se, então, crucial na descrição da dinâmica de tais fontes ópticas. Desta forma, nesta dissertação, foi desenvolvido o estudo dos modelos matemáticos que descrevem a dinâmica de lasers travados, assim como foi investigado o desempenho de redes WDM-PON empregando estas fontes ópticas. / The availability of low cost multi-wavelength optical sources is certainly one of the fundamental aspects to allow the deployment of WDM-PON networks. Several technologies for the implementation of such optical sources are discussed in the literature, including tunable lasers, DFB arrays and spectral slicing of a broadband light source. However, those propositions suffer from high cost or operational limitations. One alternative is the optical injection locking of a Fabry Pérot laser diode (FPLD), in which the external optical injection signal is obtained from the spectral slicing of a broadband light source. This option has been widely investigated because the optical injection locking process allows for the FP-LD optical spectral control and wavelength selection. In addition, the low cost of such device makes this optical source an attractive solution for WDM-PON widespread deployment. In this context, the understanding of the locking mechanism becomes important in the optimization of such optical sources. Thus, in this dissertation, we conducted a study of mathematical models that describe the dynamics of locked lasers as well as investigated the performance of WDM-PON based on those optical sources.

In this thesis we investigate advanced techniques for the readout and control of various interferometers. In particular, we present experimental investigations of interferometer configurations and control techniques to be used in second generation interferometric gravitational wave detectors. We also present a new technique, tilt locking, for the readout and control of optical interferometers. ¶ We report the first experimental demonstration of a Sagnac interferometer with resonant sideband extraction (RSE). We measure the frequency response to modulation of the length of the arms and demonstrate an increase in signal bandwidth of by a factor of 6.5 compared to the Sagnac with arm cavities only. We compare Sagnac interferometers based on optical cavities with cavity-based Michelson interferometers and find that the Sagnac configuration has little overall advantage in a cavity-based system. ¶ A system for the control and signal extraction of a power recycled Michelson interferometer with RSE is presented. This control system employs a frontal modulation scheme requiring a phase modulated carrier field and a phase modulated subcarrier field. The system is capable of locking all 5 length degrees of freedom and allows the signal cavity to be detuned over the entire range of possibilities, in principle, whilst maintaining lock. We analytically investigate the modulation/demodulation techniques used to obtain these error signals, presenting an introductory explanation of single sideband modulation/demodulation and double demodulation. ¶ This control system is implemented on a benchtop prototype interferometer. We discuss technical problems associated with production of the input beam modulation components and present several solutions. Operation of the interferometer is demonstrated for a wide range of detunings. The frequency response of the interferometer is measured for various detuned points and we observe good agreement with theoretical predictions. The ability of the control system to maintain lock as the interferometer is detuned is experimentally demonstrated. ¶ Tilt locking, a new technique to obtain an error signal to lock a laser to an optical cavity, is presented. This technique produces an error signal by efficient measurement of the interference between the TEM00 and TEM10 modes. We perform experimental and theoretical comparisons with the widely used Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) technique. We derive the quantum noise limit to the sensitivity of a measurement of the beam position, and using this result calculate the shot noise limited sensitivity of tilt locking. We show that tilt locking has a quantum efficiency of 80%, compared to 82% for the PDH technique. We present experimental demonstrations of tilt locking in several applications including frequency stabilisation, continuous-wave second harmonic generation, and injection locking of a Nd:YAG slab laser. In each of these cases, we demonstrate that the performance of tilt locking is not the limiting factor of the lock stability, and show that it achieves similar performance to the PDH based system. ¶ Finally, we discuss how tilt locking can be effectively applied to two beam interferometers. We show experimentally how a two beam interferometer typically gives excellent isolation against errors arising from changes in the photodetector position, and experimentally demonstrate the use of tilt locking as a signal readout system for a Sagnac interferometer.

Les circuits supraconducteurs sont parmi les technologies de l'information quantique les plus avancées. Ils ont aujourd'hui atteint la maturité qui offre un grand degré de contrôle et une large gamme d'interactions qui peuvent être précisément réalisées sur mesure. Le mixeur Josephson est un exemple de circuit supraconducteur qui effectue le mixage à trois ondes aux fréquences micro-ondes. Dans cette thèse, trois expériences, où le mixeur Josephson est utilisé pour trois applications différentes sont décrites. D'abord, nous avons réalisé le couplage ultrafort effectif entre deux modes bosoniques afin d'étudier les propriétés de l'état fondamental de ce système, tels que le squeezing à un mode et à deux modes du champ radié. Ensuite, nous avons construit un nœud quantique, capable de créer et distribuer de l'intrication sur un réseau quantique micro-onde, alors que de stocker et relâcher de l'information quantique à demande. Nous avons intégré un qubit de mesure dans ce dispositif pour augmenter le degré de contrôle sur son état quantique. Finalement, nous avons poussé le mixeur Josephson au delà du seuil de l'oscillation paramétrique, où nous avons démontré une technique inhabituelle de verrouillage par injection en conversion de fréquence dans ce dispositif non-dégénéré. / Superconducting circuits stand among the most advanced quantum information processing platforms. They have nowadays reached a maturity that offers a high level of controllability and a large variety of interactions that can be precisely designed on demand. The Josephson mixer is one such superconducting device that performs three-wave mixing at microwave frequencies. In this thesis, we describe three experiments in which the Josephson mixer was used for different applications. First, we have realized an effective ultrastrong coupling of two bosonic modes that allowed us to study the ground state properties of this system, such as the single mode and the two mode squeezing of the emitted radiation. Second, we have built a quantum node, able to generate and distribute entanglement over a microwave quantum network, as well as to store and release quantum information on demand. We have integrated an ancilla qubit to this device in order to increase the degree of control over the quantum state of the system. Finally, we have pushed the Josephson mixer beyond the parametric oscillation instability threshold, where we have demonstrated an atypical injection locking technique that relies on coherent frequency conversion in this non-degenerate device.

A disponibilização de fontes ópticas multi-comprimento de onda de baixo custo certamente é um dos aspectos fundamentais para viabilizar a implantação de redes WDMPON (Wavelength Division Multiplexing-Passive Optical Network). Na literatura, são encontradas propostas de algumas tecnologias para a construção de tais dispositivos como a utilização de fontes ópticas sintonizáveis, uso de um vetor de lasers DFB (Distributed Feedback Laser) ou, até mesmo, o fatiamento espectral de uma fonte de banda larga. Contudo, essas propostas apresentam custo elevado, ou limitações de operação, tornando-se inapropriadas para a aplicação de interesse. Uma alternativa que vem sendo amplamente utilizada é o travamento óptico de diodos laser de Fabry-Pérot (FP-LD - Fabry-Pérot laser diode), realizado por meio da injeção de sinal óptico externo provindo do fatiamento espectral de uma fonte de banda larga. O travamento óptico possibilita o controle espectral do FP-LD, e o seu baixo custo torna essa fonte óptica atrativa na implantação de redes WDM. O entendimento do mecanismo de travamento torna-se, então, crucial na descrição da dinâmica de tais fontes ópticas. Desta forma, nesta dissertação, foi desenvolvido o estudo dos modelos matemáticos que descrevem a dinâmica de lasers travados, assim como foi investigado o desempenho de redes WDM-PON empregando estas fontes ópticas. / The availability of low cost multi-wavelength optical sources is certainly one of the fundamental aspects to allow the deployment of WDM-PON networks. Several technologies for the implementation of such optical sources are discussed in the literature, including tunable lasers, DFB arrays and spectral slicing of a broadband light source. However, those propositions suffer from high cost or operational limitations. One alternative is the optical injection locking of a Fabry Pérot laser diode (FPLD), in which the external optical injection signal is obtained from the spectral slicing of a broadband light source. This option has been widely investigated because the optical injection locking process allows for the FP-LD optical spectral control and wavelength selection. In addition, the low cost of such device makes this optical source an attractive solution for WDM-PON widespread deployment. In this context, the understanding of the locking mechanism becomes important in the optimization of such optical sources. Thus, in this dissertation, we conducted a study of mathematical models that describe the dynamics of locked lasers as well as investigated the performance of WDM-PON based on those optical sources.

Today’s microprocessors with millions of transistors perform high-complexitycomputing at multi-gigahertz clock frequencies. Clock generation and clockdistribution are crucial tasks which determine the overall performance of amicroprocessor. The ever-increasing power density and speed call for newmethodologies in clocking circuitry, as the conventional techniques exhibit manydrawbacks in the advanced VLSI chips. A significant percentage of the total dynamicpower consumption in a microprocessor is dissipated in the clock distributionnetwork. Also since the chip dimensions increase, clock jitter and skew managementbecome very challenging in the framework of conventional methodologies. In such asituation, new alternative techniques to overcome these limitations are demanded. The main focus in this thesis is on new circuit techniques, which treat thedrawbacks of the conventional clocking methodologies. The presented research in thisthesis can be divided into two main parts. In the first part, challenges in design ofclock generators have been investigated. Research on oscillators as central elements inclock generation is the starting point to enter into this part. A thorough analysis andmodeling of the injection-locking phenomenon for on-chip applications show greatpotential of this phenomenon in noise reduction and jitter suppression. In thepresented analysis, phase noise of an injection-locked oscillator has been formulated.The first part also includes a discussion on DLL-based clock generators. DLLs haverecently become popular in design of clock generators due to ensured stability,superior jitter performance, multiphase clock generation capability and simple designprocedure. In the presented discussion, an open-loop DLL structure has beenproposed to overcome the limitations introduced by DLL dithering around the averagelock point. Experimental results reveals that significant jitter reduction can beachieved by eliminating the DLL dithering. Furthermore, the proposed structuredissipates less power compared to the traditional DLL-based clock generators.Measurement results on two different clock generators implemented in 90-nm CMOSshow more than 10% power savings at frequencies up to 2.5 GHz. In the second part of this thesis, resonant clock distribution networks have beendiscussed as low-power alternatives for the conventional clocking schemes. In amicroprocessor, as clock frequency increases, clock power is going to be thedominant contributor to the total power dissipation. Since the power-hungry bufferstages are the main source of the clock power dissipation in the conventional clock distribution networks, it has been shown that the bufferless solution is the mosteffective resonant clocking method. Although resonant clock distribution shows greatpotential in significant clock power savings, several challenging issues have to besolved in order to make such a clocking strategy a sufficiently feasible alternative tothe power-hungry, but well-understood, conventional clocking schemes. In this part,some of these issues such as jitter characteristics and impact of tank quality factor onoverall performance have been discussed. In addition, the effectiveness of theinjection-locking phenomenon in jitter suppression has been utilized to solve the jitterpeaking problem. The presented discussion in this part is supported by experimentalresults on a test chip implemented in 130-nm CMOS at clock frequencies up to 1.8GHz. / Mikroprocessorer till dagens datorer innehåller hundratals miljoner transistorersom utför åtskilliga miljarder komplexa databeräkningar per sekund. I stort settalla operationer i dagens mikroprocessorer ordnas genom att synkronisera demmed en eller flera klocksignaler. Dessa signaler behöver ofta distribueras överhela chippet och driva alla synkroniseringskretsar med klockfrekvenser pååtskilliga miljarder svängningar per sekund. Detta utgör en stor utmaning förkretsdesigners på grund av att klocksignalerna behöver ha en extremt högtidsnoggranhet, vilket blir svårare och svårare att uppnå då chippen blir större.Idealt ska samma klocksignal nå alla synkroniseringskretsar exakt samtidigt föratt uppnå optimal prestanda, avvikelser ifrån denna ideala funktionalitet innebärlägre prestanda. Ytterliggare utmaningar inom klockning av digitala chip, är atten betydande andel av processorns totala effekt förbrukas i klockdistributionen.Därför krävs nya innovativa kretslösningar för att lösa problemen med bådeonoggrannheten och den växande effektförbrukningen i klockdistributionen. att lösa de problem som finns i dagens konventionella kretslösningar förklocksignaler på chip. I den första delen av denna avhandling presenterasforskningsresultat på oscillatorer vilka utgör mycket viktiga komponenter igeneringen av klocksignalerna på chippen. Teoretiska studier avfaslåsningsfenomen i integrerade klockoscillatorer har presenterats. Studiernahar visat att det finns stor potential för reducering av tidsonoggrannhet iklocksignalerna med hjälp av faslåsning till en annan signal. I avhandlingensförsta del presenteras även en diskussion om klockgeneratorer baserade påfördröjningslåsta element. Dessa fördröjningslåsta elementen, kända som DLLkretsar, har egenskapen att de kan fördröja en klocksignal med en bestämdfördröjning, vilket möjliggör skapandet av multipla klockfaser. En nykretsteknik har introducerats för klockgenerering av multipla klockfaser vilken reducerar effektförbrukningen och onoggranheten i DLL-baseradeklockgeneratorer. I denna teknik används en övervakningskrets vilken ser till attalla delar i klockgeneratorn utnyttjas effektivt och att oanvända kretsarinaktiveras. Baserat på experimentalla mätresultat från tillverkade testkretsar ikisel har en effektbesparing på mer än 10% uppvisats vid klockfrekvenser påupp till 2.5 GHz tillsammans med en betydande ökning av klocknoggranheten. I avhandlingens andra del diskuteras en klockdistributionsteknik som baseraspå resonans, vilken har visat sig vara ett lovande alternativ till konventionllabufferdrivna klockningstekniker när det gäller minskande effektförbrukning.Principen bakom tekniken är att återanvända den energi som utnyttjas till attladda upp klocklasten. Teoretiska resonemang har visat att storaenergibesparingar är möjliga, och praktiska mätningar på tillverkadeexperimentchip har visat att effektförbrukingen kan mer än halveras. Ettproblem med den föreslagna klockningstekniken är att data som används iberäkningarna kretsen direkt påverkar klocklasten, vilket även påverkarnoggranheten på klocksignalen. För att komma till rätta med detta problemetpresenteras en teknik, baserad på forskning inom ovan nämndafaslåsningsfenomen, som kan minska onoggrannheten på klocksignalen medöver 50%. Både effektbesparingen och förbättringen av tidsnoggranheten harverifierats med hjälp av mätningar på tillverkade chip vid frekvenser upp mot1.8 GHz.

Kvantové kaskádové laserové frekvenční hřebeny jsou slibnými kandidáty pro nové miniaturizované spektrometry bez pohyblivých částí. Mohou být generovány v samočinném režimu pomocí různých nelinearit vyvolaných asymetrickým ziskem a vlnovodovou disperzí. K simulaci samočinných hřebenů byl použit dostupný vysoce optimalizovaný nástroj založený na modelu postupné vlny. Dále byl rozšířen o funkci zamykání optickým vstřikováním, koherentní techniky ovládání frekvenčních hřebenů. Následné simulace potvrdily uzamčení pomocí vstřikovaného signálu. Bylo zjištěno, že disperze grupové rychlosti (GVD) má významný dopad na rozsah zamykání. GVD byla vypočtena pro typické zařízení a frekvenční hřeben byl uzamčen pomocí optického vstřikování v rozsahu ladění od -2 do 47 MHz.

The random fluctuations of signal phase of an oscillator limit the precision of time and frequency measurements. The noise and long-term stability of the system’s oscillator or clock is of major importance in applications such as optical and wireless communications, high-speed digital electronics, radar, and astronomy. The Optoelectronic Oscillator (OE Oscillator), a new class of time delay oscillator with promise as a low-phase noise source of microwave carriers, was introduced by Steve Yao and Lute Malek in 1996. The OE Oscillator combines into a closed loop an RF photonic link and an RF chain. The RF photonic link consists of a laser, electro-optic modulator, optical fibre delay line, and a photo-receiver that together provide an RF delay. An RF chain consists of one or more amplifiers and a RF resonator that together provide the sustaining amplification and the frequency selectivity necessary for single mode oscillation of the loop. The low loss of optical fibres enables the attainment of delays that correspond to optical fibre lengths of several kilometers. It is the long delay, unattainable in an all electronic implementations that is responsible for the superior phase noise performance of an OE Oscillator. In this thesis the fundamental principles of operation of an OE Oscillator are described and the principal sources of in-loop phase fluctuations that are responsible for phase-noise identified. This lays the ground for an exposition of the mechanism that describes the perturbation of a time delay oscillator by injection into the loop of a carrier that is detuned in frequency from the natural frequency of the oscillator. For sufficiently small detuning the oscillator can become phase locked to the injected carrier. The model presented in the thesis generalises the traditional Yao-Maleki and Leeson model to include all the important features that describe the injection locking dynamics of an OE Oscillator. In particular the common assumptions of single mode oscillation and weak injection are removed. This is important to correctly predict the effect of injection locking on the spurious peaks in the phase noise spectrum corresponding to the side-modes of a time delay oscillator. Simulation results are presented in order to validate the dynamics of the oscillator under injection and analytic results on the lock-in range and phase noise spectrum. A 10 GHz OE Oscillator with a single 5km delay line is used as an example in the simulation illustration.