abstract: VCO as a ubiquitous circuit in many systems is highly demanding for the phase noises. Lowering the noise migrated from the power supply has been the trending topics for many years. Considering the Ring Oscillator(RO) based VCO is more sensitive to the supply noise, it is more significant to find out a useful technique to reduce the supply noise. Among the conventional supply noise reduction techniques such as filtering, channel length adjusting for the transistors, and the current noise mutual canceling, the new feature of the 28nm UTBB-FD-SOI process launched by the ST semiconductor offered a new method to reduce the noise, which is realized by allowing the circuit designer to dynamically control the threshold voltage. In this thesis, a new structure of the linear coarse-fine VCO with 1V supply voltage is designed for the ring typed VCO. The structure is also designed to be flexible to tune the frequency coverage by the fine and coarse tunable on-board resistors. The thesis has given the model of the phase noise reduction method. The model has also been proved to be meaningful with the newly designed VCO circuit. For instances, given 1μV/√Hz white noise coupled on the supply, the 3GHz VCO can have a more than 7dBc/Hz phase noise lowering at the 10MHz frequency offset. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2018

The energy levels, lifetimes, oscillator strengths, and transition probabilities of N II lines have been reported in this thesis. We have used the Hartree-Fock (HF) and Multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock (MCHF) methods in our calculations. The relativistic operators mass correction, one-body Darwin term, spin-orbit interaction, and spin-other-orbit have been included in the Breit-Pauli Hamiltonian in our calculations of atomic parameters of singly-ionized nitrogen. We considered 70 levels of the 2s2 2p2, 2s2 2p3, 2s2 2p 3p, 2s2 2p 3s, 2s2 2p 4p, 2s2 2p 3d, 2s2 2p 4s, and 2s2 2p 4d configurations of N II. Our results have been compared with other available calculations and measurements, and generally a good agreement is found.

A compressão nas flutuações da diferença de intensidades dos feixes sinal e complementar gerados por um OPO acima do limiar foi medida já há algum tempo e constituiu um dos principais interesses nestes sistemas. Emaranhamento entre esses feixes, entretanto, ainda não foi experimentalmente demonstrado em circunstâncias normais de operação acima do limiar (feixes não-degenerados em frequência). Usando um critério de não-separabilidade entre sistemas contínuos, buscamos verificar se a variância de um par de operadores tipo EPR, a diferençaa de intensidades e a soma das fases de sinal e complementar, pode violar uma desigualdade suficiente para caracterizar emaranhamento. Após um estudo teórico, verificamos que isto pode de fato ocorrer numa região de parâmetros experimentalmente acessível. A medida não foi realizada até hoje devido à dificuldade em se medir quadratura fase, o que, neste caso, exigiria o uso de osciladores locais em frequências distintas. Motivados por isso, propomos uma montagem experimental que utiliza cavidades óticas para projetar ruído de fase em ruído de intensidade, tornando dessa forma acessível a medida de anticorrelação de fase entre sinal e complementar. Realizamos nossa proposta em caráter preliminar, obtendo resultados encorajadores, embora não conclusivos, que indicam a existência de emaranhamento. / Squeezing in the intensity difference of signal and idler beams generated by an OPO operating above threshold was observed some time ago and presented one of the major attraction of this system. Entanglement between the macroscopic fields, however, has not yet been demonstrated in normal operation conditions above threshold (non-degenerate beams). Using a non-separability criterion for continuous variables, we investigate whether the variances of a pair of EPR-like operators, difference of intensities and sum of phases of signal and idler, can violate a Bell-type inequality and hence characterize entanglement. After a theoretical study, we verified that entanglement can occur in an experimentally accessible region of parameters. This measurement was not performed to date owing to the difficulty of measuring the phase quadratures, which usually requires the use of local oscillators with slightly different frequencies. Motivated by this, we propose an experimental setup that uses optical cavities to rotate the noise ellipse of each beam, projecting phase noise into intensity noise, thus allowing the experimental access to the phase quadratures. We preliminarly implemented our proposal and obtained promising although not conclusive results, that indicate entanglement.

Esta dissertação descreve o movimento quântico de uma partícula numa barreira de potencial parabólica, condicionalmente este sistema é chamado de oscilador invertido. Determinamos estados quânticos semiclássicos como família de estados coerentes generalizados (ECG), sendo construídos através da adaptação do trabalho de Malkin e Man´ko, determinando-se um operador que seja integral do movimento, parametrizado por algumas constantes e reconhecido como operador de aniquilação, cujos auto-estados tem características dos estados comprimidos. Discutimos suas propriedades e observamos que é possível comparar ECG do oscilador invertido com ECG da partícula livre e oscilador harmônico obtidos na literatura. Também é feito um estudo do movimento puramente quântico (tunelamento) nas barreiras de potenciais do oscilador invertido e oscilador invertido truncado, por meio das soluções estacionárias exatas e aproximadas (JWKB), comparando os resultados obtidos em cada situação. / This dissertation describes the motion of a particle in a quantum potential barrier parabolic, this system is conditionally called inverted oscillator. Determined quantum states semi-classics like family generalized coherent states (GCS), being constructed by adapting work Malkin\'s and Man\'ko, determining an operator who is integral of the motion, parameterized for some constants and recognized as annihilation operator, whose eigenstates have characteristics of squeezed states. We discuss its properties and note that it is possible to compare the GCS of inverted oscillator with GCS the particle free and harmonic oscillator obtained in the literature. Also made a study of the movement purely quantum (tunneling) in the barriers potential inverted oscillator and truncated inverted oscillator by means of exact and approximate stationary solutions (JWKB), comparing the results obtained in each situation.

This master thesis presents an experimental design of a laser gyroscope based on a stabilized fiber optical parametric oscillator frequency comb and the results of testing of the proposed design. Before going into the experimental details, a background for different types of gyroscopes is discussed. This new laser gyroscope design is made up of only polarization maintaining (PM) fiber and PM fiber components. By using only fiber and fiber components, we were able to minimize size, weight, and alignment issues that are typical in bulk optical designs for OPO's and gyroscopes. The fiber-based OPO produces counter propagating ultrafast pulses that overlap only twice in the cavity, resulting in a beatnote signal when combined outside of the laser cavity. A mode-locked laser is used as a pump source so the lock-in effect (or deadband region) is avoided for the experiment. The drift of this beatnote signal represents the rotation sensitivity of the experimental setup. Issues seen in past iterations, such as stability of mode-locked pump source and beatnote drift overtime due to environmental variables, have been reduced in this experiment. This has been done by comprising the entire pump source of PM components, and by placing the entire setup in an insulating box to minimize acoustic and temperature fluctuations. By creating a frequency comb and locking the laser gyroscope to an optical clock, this experiment can be used for very precise rotation sensing in comparison to other gyro designs currently available.

Photonic generation of ultra-low phase noise and frequency-tunable microwave or millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signals has been a topic of interest in the last few years. Advanced photonic techniques, especially the recent advancement in photonic components, have enabled the generation of microwave and mm-wave signals at high frequencies with a large tunable range and ultra-low phase noise. In this thesis, techniques to generate microwave and mm-wave signals in the optical domain are investigated, with an emphasis on system architectures to achieve large frequency tunability and low phase noise. The thesis consists of two parts. In the first part, techniques to generate microwave and mm-wave signals based on microwave frequency multiplication are investigated. Microwave frequency multiplication can be realized in the optical domain based on external modulation using a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM), but with limited multiplication factor. Microwave frequency multiplication based on external modulation using two cascaded MZMs to provide a larger multiplication factor has been proposed, but no generalized approach has been developed. In this thesis, a generalized approach to achieving microwave frequency multiplication using two cascaded MZMs is presented. A theoretical analysis leading to the operating conditions to achieve frequency quadrupling, sextupling or octupling is developed. The system performance in terms of phase noise, tunability and stability is investigated. To achieve microwave generation with a frequency multiplication factor (FMF) of 12, a technique based on a joint operation of polarization modulation, four-wave mixing and stimulated-Brillouin-scattering-assisted filtering is also proposed. The generation of a frequency-tunable mm-wave signal from 48 to 132 GHz is demonstrated. The proposed architecture can even potentially boost the FMF up to 24. In the second part, techniques to generate ultra-low phase noise and frequency-tunable microwave and mm-wave signals based on an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) are studied. The key component in an OEO to achieve low phase noise and large frequency-tunable operation is the microwave bandpass filter. In the thesis, we first develop a microwave photonic filter with an ultra-narrow passband and large tunability based on a phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PS-FBG). Then, an OEO incorporating such a microwave photonic filter is developed. The performance including the tunable range and phase noise is evaluated. To further increase the frequency tunable range, a technique to achieve microwave frequency multiplication in an OEO is proposed. An mm-wave signal with a tunable range more than 40 GHz is demonstrated.

In this thesis, dual-frequency optoelectronic oscillators (OEOs) and their applications to transverse load sensing are studied. Two configurations of dual-frequency OEOs are proposed and investigated. In the first configuration, a polarization-maintaining phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PM-PSFBG) is employed in the OEO loop to the generation of two oscillating frequencies. The beat between the two oscillating frequencies is a function of the load applied to the PM-PSFBG, which is used in transverse load sensing. To avoid the frequency measurement ambiguity, a second configuration is proposed by coupling a dual-wavelength fiber laser to the dual-frequency OEO. A single tone microwave signal with the frequency determined by the birefringence of the grating is generated in the OEO and is fed into the fiber ring laser to injection lock the dual wavelengths. The sensitivity and the resolution are measured to be 9.73 GHz/(N/mm) and 2.06×10-4 N/mm, respectively. The high stability of the single-tone microwave signal permits accurate measurement, while the frequency interrogation allows an ultra-high speed demodulation.

The resonant tunneling diode (RTD) is the fastest electron device to-date in terms of its ability to generate continuous-wave terahertz frequency at room temperature, owing to its unique characteristic of negative differential resistance (NDR). In this work, a lattice-matched In0.53Ga0.47As (on InP) is used as the cladding layer, while a highly-compressive strained In0.8Ga0.2As is sandwiched between two tensile-strained pseudomorphic AlAs barriers to form the active double barrier quantum well RTD structure grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy. The ultimate aim of this work was to integrate an optimised RTD into an oscillator circuit to enable a 100 GHz (W-band) MMIC RTD oscillator. One of the key challenges in this work was to improve the DC performance of the RTD, through extensive material and structural characterisations. Growing nano-scale epitaxial layers require a high degree of controllability with mono-layer precision. The dependencies of the NDR components, such as the peak current density, peak voltage and peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) towards variations in structural thickness were studied systematically. Through this work, it is found that the peak current density is strongly affected by monolayer variation in barrier thickness. The effect of quantum well thickness variation towards peak current density is relatively weaker. Interestingly, variation in spacer layer thickness has very little influence towards the magnitude of the peak current density. The fabrication of the RTD using a conventional i-line optical lithography created its own challenge. The process capability to reduce mesa active area down to sub-micrometer level to reduce device’s geometrical capacitance for high frequency, THz applications has been made feasible in this work. The conventional i-line optical lithography was combined with a newly developed tri-layer soft reflow technique using solvent vapour resulted in sub-micrometer RTDs. The DC characterisation of the fabricated RTDs showed excellent device scalability, indicating a robust processing. This novel sub-micron processing technique with high throughput and repeatability is a very promising low cost technique. A collaborative effort between the University of Manchester and Glasgow paved the way towards the realisation of an integrated W-band RTD MMIC oscillator. The circuit-combining topology was designed by the High Frequency Electronics Group in Glasgow while the mask-layout and oscillator fabrication took place in Manchester. An active RTD from sample XMBE#301 with peak current density of 1.4 x 105 A/cm2 and PVCR of 4.5 was integrated into a 100 GHz MMIC oscillator to successfully produce a measured frequency of 109 GHz with an un-optimised 5.5 μW output power at room temperature (mesa area = 4x4 μm2).

La découverte de la magnétorésistance géante en 1988 est considérée comme la date de naissance d’un nouveau et dynamique champ de recherche appelé l’électronique de spin. La riche physique associée au transport de spin devrait révolutionner le futur de la nanoélectronique. Dans ce cadre les nano-oscillateurs à transfert de spin (STOs) se sont positionnés comme des candidats sérieux pour le développement d’une nouvelle génération de dispositifs rf basés sur l’électronique de spin.Au début de ma thèse, l’important bruit de phase des STOs restait une contrainte majeure limitant les perspectives technologiques à ce type d’oscillateurs. Dans cette thèse nous avons cherché à contrôler la dynamique des STOs et à réduire leur bruit phase en développant différentes stratégies : (i) l’optimisation des propriétés des matériaux magnétiques utilisés (ii) l’excitation de modes couplés dans des systèmes hybridés (iii) la stabilisation de la dynamique de la phase d’un STO avec un signal extérieur de référence (iv) la synchronisation mutuelle de différents oscillateurs pour améliorer la cohérence spectrale et la puissance des STOs. Nous focalisons en particulier sur le cas de STO à base de vortex magnétique qui présentent intrinsèquement des cohérences spectrales plus élevées que celles d’autres types d’oscillateurs.Dans une première partie, nous nous proposons d’identifier et d’étudier les différents mécanismes qui régissent et contrôle la dynamique d’un STO à base de vortex magnétique dans les régimes auto-oscillant et non-autonomes. Nous mettons tout d’abord en évidence que l’excitation de modes couplés permet de contrôler les propriétés rf d’un oscillateur unique en prenant l’exemple d’un STO à base de deux vortex magnétiques couplés. Par la suite, nous étudions la synchronisation « parfaite » de ces STOs à base de vortex avec un courant rf de référence. Nous corrélons l’observation d’une largeur de raie d’un hertz et d’un bruit de phase minimum de -90 dBc/Hz à 1kHz de la porteuse dans l’état synchronisé à une absence de glissement de phase, i.e. à l’absence de phénomène de désynchronisation. Le fort couple de Field-like planaire mesuré dans ces STOs représente un outil précieux pour contrôler le processus de synchronisation. Dans le cas des STOs à double vortex, un tel contrôle nous permet d’observer des phénomènes physiques exotiques allant de la synchronisation simultanée de plusieurs modes, à de l’auto-synchronisation en passant par des dynamiques de synchronisation incohérentes.Dans une seconde partie, nous proposons différents concepts innovants de dispositifs rf à base de vortex magnétique. Nous présentons tout d’abord les bases d’une boucle à retard de phase permettant d’asservir un STO. En prenant avantage du fort couple de Field Like, nous développons un nouveau schéma de détection rf, plus efficace que les actuelles diodes Schottky, basé sur un renversement d’aimantation en expulsant réversiblement le cœur de vortex à l’aide d’un courant rf. Finalement, nous démontrons qu’il est possible de synchroniser électriquement deux STOs connectés directement en parallèle ou en série, ou à l’aide d’une ligne à retard. Nous montrons ainsi qu’une forte amélioration de la cohérence spectrale (d’un facteur 2) et de la puissance (d’un facteur 4 pour un maximum de 1.6 μW) peut être obtenues dans l’état synchronisé. A l’aide de la ligne à retard, nous mettons par ailleurs en évidence le rôle crucial du déphasage entre les deux STOs sur les propriétés de l’état synchronisé. Ces résultats prometteurs ouvrent la voie vers la synchronisation de réseaux de STOs sans champ appliqué et sans ligne à retard entre les oscillateurs.Dix ans après leur découverte, les oscillateurs à transfert de spin n’ont toujours pas dévoilé tout leur potentiel et de nouvelles applications sont maintenant envisagées, allant de dispositif rf classiques à des circuits logiques et dispositifs bio-inspirés basés sur les STOs. / The discovery of the giant magnetoresistance in 1988 is considered as the birth date of a new and dynamic research field called spintronics. The rich physics associated with spin transport has created a breakthrough for the future of nano-electronics. In the magnetism roadmap, spin-torque oscillators (STOs) are candidates for future generation of spintronic based rf-devices.At the beginning of this thesis, one major issue of spin-torque oscillators remained their poor spectral coherence. To overcome this issue, we have investigated different approaches: (i) the development of magnetic materials with a low damping and large spin-polarization, (ii) the study of collective mode dynamics in hybridized magnetic systems (iii) the stabilization of the STO dynamics with a reference external signal (iv) the synchronization of multiple STOs to enhance both their power and spectral coherence. We focus our work on vortex based STOs which present higher spectral coherences than other kinds of STOs.In a first part, we study the different mechanisms that can drive and stabilize the dynamics of a vortex based STO in the autonomous and non-autonomous regimes. We first highlight that the excitation of collective modes allows the harnessing the rf-properties of a single and isolated in a double vortex based STO. Then we report the ``perfect'' phase-locking of a STO with an external rf-current. To go beyond this analysis, we notice that a 1 Hz minimum linewidth and a flat phase noise level of -90 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz from the offset frequency in the locked state could be associated with the absence of phase slips, i.e desynchronization events. We demonstrate that the locking process is driven by a Field-like in-plane torque which gives the possibility to control with precision the STO locking process. In our double vortex based STO, we can even observe exotic behaviors such as multi-mode synchronization, self-resonance and eventually incoherent motion. Such a degree of control, unexpected for a nano-scale oscillator, is particularly promising for the development of STO based nanodevices.In a second part, we propose different concepts of spintronic rf-devices based on vortex STOs. We describe the basis of an on-chip STO based phase locked loop. By taking advantage of the large Field-like torque in our STOs, we develop a new radio-frequency detection scheme, more efficient than the state of the art Schottky diode, based on magnetization switching through the resonant and reversible expulsion of the vortex core. Finally, we show the first experimental observation of the electrical synchronization of two STOs connected directly in parallel or in series, or with an electrical delay line. In the synchronized state, we show a strong improvement of both the spectral coherence (by a factor 2) and the output power (by a factor 4, up to 1.6 μW). We also demonstrate, with an electrical delay line, the strong impact of the phase shift between the two STOs on the synchronized regime. These promising results open the way for the synchronization of STO arrays at zero field and without electrical delays.Ten years after their discovery, spin-torque oscillators have thus not yet revealed all their potential and promising applications could be soon targeted, in order to realize a spin logic circuit, bio-inspired spintronic devices and more classical rf-applications.

Within the master’s thesis there is comparison of different structures of ARC oscillators with respect to their harmonic distortion. Individual blocks of oscillator are analyzed. Attention is paid to choosing and design of suitable ARC filter structure and possibilities of its tuning. Also possibilities of stabilization of amplitude are analyzed. Different types of controlled amplifiers and circuits for controlling of their amplification are discussed. Next captures are focused to designing and simulation of the ARC oscillator. The oscillator can be tuned in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 20 kHz with harmonic distortion smaller than 1%. At the end of the thesis, practical realization of the proposed circuit is described. Also results of the measurement of parameters of the oscillator are given.