7
FLUCTUATIONS IN A QUARTZ OSCILLATOR A. N. Malakhov and N. N. Solin UDC 529.786.2 A detailed analysis is given of amplitude and frequency fluctuations in a quartz oscillator, due to fluctuations in different elements of the oscillator circuit. The spectral line width is found, and the contributions of fluctuations in various parameters to it are investigated. 1. INTRODUCTION Fluctuations in quartz oscillators have not been adequately investigated either experimentally or theoretically, in spite of the fact that they are of fundamental importance in practical applications. Exist- ing experimental data are, for the most part, merely descriptive, whereas theoretical analyses are mainly concerned with natural fluctuations [1-3]. The only exception is [4], where mention is made of quasistatic fluctuations in the internal tube impedance. In the present paper we report a theoretical analysis of fluctuations in a two-circuit (Pierce-type) quartz oscillator which are due to slow [in comparison with cos (w0t) ] uneorrelated fluctuations, for ex- ample, the quartz capacitance, the capacitance in the anode circuit, the coupling capacitance, the input tube capacitance, and the transconductance of the tube. This paper is, in fact, a continuation of [3], and we shall therefore consider the same quartz oscil- lator circuit and employ the same method of analyzing the fluctuation equations. We shall use the same notation for the circuit parameters. These assumptions will enable us to avoid a considerable amount of detail and reproduce only the final expressions, leaving more space for the analysis of the results. It can be shown that the fluctuation equations, in our case, are of the same form as for natural noise [3]. The only difference is that the perturbing forces fi (t) are now due to fluctuations in the circuit pa- rameters and not to the shot and thermal noise. They are given by: where f~(t) ----~-A s2[;CK-l-;C+(sl-he)gc~ + S3 g~ gCs + ng~S ], 2 . - s~ QK 2 g~ :f#) = ~. g~ ~c~.- ac + s~,,acl + s~h~aC~ + ,tog~!, ~ ..-~.oS 2 . gx fdt) ..... /"-~[~O 4-s~ s~ ~ d ] :2 L , . ~ ac +.--g~ (s, -h~) ,~C, +s3hk~C,+nos~%' ~S . (I) ~CK ~ - - Ac,(t) ac - AC(t) ~C1-- AC~(t) C~ ' C ' Ct ~c, = Ace(t) ~s _'As_(t_~ C~ ' S Gor'kii State University. Translated from Izvestiya VUZ. Radiofizika, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 529-537, April, 1969. Original article submitted October 16, 1967. 1972C~ Bureau, a division of Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 g/est I7th Street, New York, N. Y. 10011. All rights reserved. This article cannot be reproduced for any purpose whatsoever without permission of the publisher. A copy of this article is available from the publisher for $15.00. 419

Fluctuations in a quartz oscillator

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FLUCTUATIONS IN A QUARTZ OSCILLATOR

A. N. Malakhov and N. N. Solin UDC 529.786.2

A detai led ana lys i s is given of ampli tude and f requency f luctuat ions in a quartz osc i l l a tor , due to f luctuations in different e l ements of the osc i l l a to r c i rcui t . The spec t r a l line width is found, and the contr ibut ions of f luctuations in va r ious p a r a m e t e r s to it a re invest igated.

1. I N T R O D U C T I O N

Fluctuat ions in quartz osc i l l a to r s have not been adequately inves t igated e i ther exper imenta l ly or theore t i ca l ly , in spite of the fact that they a r e of fundamental impor tance in p rac t i ca l appl icat ions. Exis t - ing expe r imen ta l data a re , fo r the mos t pa r t , m e r e l y descr ip t ive , w h e r e a s theore t ica l ana lyses a re mainly concerned with na tura l f luctuat ions [1-3]. The only exception is [4], where ment ion is made of quas is ta t ic f luctuat ions in the in terna l tube impedance.

In the p re sen t paper we r e p o r t a theore t ica l ana lys i s of f luctuations in a two-c i rcu i t (P ie rce- type) quar tz osc i l l a to r which a r e due to slow [in compar i son with cos (w0t) ] uneor re la ted f luctuations, for ex- ample , the quartz capaci tance , the capaci tance in the anode c i rcui t , the coupling capaci tance , the input tube capac i tance , and the t ransconductance of the tube.

This paper is, in fact , a continuation of [3], and we shall t he re fo re consider the same quartz osc i l - l a to r c i rcu i t and employ the same method of analyzing the fluctuation equations. We shall use the same notation for the c i rcu i t p a r a m e t e r s .

These assumpt ions will enable us to avoid a cons iderab le amount of detail and r ep roduce only the final exp re s s ions , leaving m o r e space for the ana lys i s of the r e su l t s .

It can be shown that the f luctuation equations, in our case , a re of the same f o r m as for na tura l noise [3]. The only di f ference is that the per turb ing fo rces f i (t) a re now due to f luctuations in the c i rcui t pa- r a m e t e r s and not to the shot and t h e r m a l noise . They a re given by:

where

f~(t) ----~-A s 2 [ ; C K - l - ; C + ( s l - h e ) g c ~ + S3 g~ gCs + n g ~ S ] , 2 . - s~ QK

2 g~

: f#) = ~ . g~ ~ c ~ . - ac + s~ , ,ac l + s~h~aC~ + ,tog~!, ~ . .-~.oS 2 . g x

f d t ) . . . . . /"-~[~O 4 -s~ s~ ~ d ] :2 L , . ~ ac +.--g~ (s, - h ~ ) ,~C, + s 3 h k ~ C , + n o s ~ % ' ~S .

(I)

~CK ~ - - Ac,( t ) ac - AC(t) ~C1-- AC~(t) C~ ' C ' Ct

~c, = Ace(t) ~s _'As_(t_~ C~ ' S

Gor 'k i i State Univers i ty . T rans la t ed f r o m Izves t iya VUZ. Radiofizika, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 529-537, Apri l , 1969. Original a r t i c l e submit ted October 16, 1967.

�9 1972C~ Bureau, a division of Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 g/est I7th Street, New York, N. Y. 10011. All rights reserved. This article cannot be reproduced for any purpose whatsoever without permission of the publisher. A copy of this article is available from the publisher for $15.00.

419

are the relat ive fluctuations in the quartz capacitance, the anode-c i rcui t capacitance, the coupling capaci- tance, the input tube capacitance Cs(t) , and the t ransconductance S(t) of the tube, respect ively .

According to [3], the coupling coefficients si = C~/(C + Cl), s 2 = C1/(C s + C~) and the relat ive differ- ence hk = ~'"21 . . . . ~k/2~r176 1-2 = Ck/(Ck + Cl + Cs) are of the order of/~a, where we are assuming #a = Q ~ and #k = Q~ �9 In pract ice, we always have #k -< #2a, where Qk and Qa are the Q fac tors of the quartz and anode circui ts , respect ively .

In Eq. (1) we have introduced the additional symbols defined by n = / ( 1 - 3/30R~/4), n o --/(1--floR~/4), which a re of the order of ~a, and the fur ther coefficient s 3 = Cs/(C 1 + Cs) , which is of the o rde r of p~ l = S/w1(C + C1) ~ ~a-

The fact that the fo rm of the fluctuation equations is the same as before leads to the following ob- vious consequence. If the spect ra of the pa ramete r fluctuations are constant within the band [0, Ha], where H a is the bandwidth of the anode circuit , such pa rame te r fluctuations may be rega rded as white, in which case the spect ra of the amplitude and frequency fluctuations of the self -osci l la t ions are of the same fo rm as in the case of natural noise. The spectra l distribution discussed in [3] will then also be valid in the present case. The only difference will be connected with the strong corre la t ion of the f i (t) [see Eq. (1)], which is absent in the case of natural noise.

On the other hand, the nonnniformity of the spect ra of pa rame te r fluctuations within the band [0, Ha], which occurs , for example, for f l icker- type pa ramete r fluctuations, gives r i se to a considerable modifica- tion of the amplitude and frequency fluctuation spectra of the quartz osci l lator , and affect substantially the shape and width of the self-osci l la t ion spectral line. Thus, the technical fluctuations in a quartz osci l la tor depend only on the proper t ies of the pa rame te r fluctuation spectra, their correla t ion, and their difference f rom the white noise spectrum.

2. A M P L I T U D E F L U C T U A T I O N S

Let us consider the expression for the perturbing force f i (t) which governs the direct effect of the fluctuations in the above circui t pa r ame te r s on the relat ive amplitude fluctuations a s (t) of the qua r t z - c i r - cuit oscil lat ions. It is readi ly found that the mean contribution of this force is due to the fluctuations in the quartz capacitance and the anode-c i rcui t capacitance. The fluctuations in the remaining pa rame te r s introduce a small fac tor which is of minor importance.

The same situation occurs for the relat ive amplitude fluctuations /3(t) in the anode circuit~whieh are due to the direct effect of the fluctuation fo rces f2 (t) and f3(t) . The only difference, as compared with the amplitude fluctuations of the quartz circuit , is that here the fluctuations in the coupling capacitance C 1 (t) will have an effect which is smal le r by a fur ther factor of #a 1 as compared with the f i r s t case, because the frequency of the generated osci l lat ions o~ 0 is close to the frequency of the quartz c i rcui t (hk is of the o rder of ~a).

Since s 2 ~ ~a, and gl and g2 are of the order of unity, it follows that f t (t) is smal le r by an o rder of magnitude than f2 (t) and f3(t) . This means that the intensity of quartz amplitude fluctuations due to tech- nical fluctuations in the c i rcui t pa rame te r s is lower by an order of magnitude than the intensity of ampli- tude fluctuations in the anode circui t . Hence, it follows that, as in the case of natural fluctuations, the small coupling between the quartz circui t and the anode circui t and, consequently, the tube (we are assum- ing zero grid currents) , which is determined by the coefficient s2, in some way "sc reens" the quartz ele- ment f rom fluctuations in other circui t elements.

If we use the method descr ibed in [3], we can readi ly obtain the following express ions for the relat ion between the spectra l densit ies of the quartz amplitude fluctuations Sai(~2) and the anode oscil lat ion Sfl (~2) with the spectral densit ies of fluctuations in the c i rcui t pa rame te r s S~k(~) (X~ = 6C k (t), X 2 = 5C (t), X 3 = 6Ci(t), X 4 = 6Cs(t),X ~ = 5S(t)) :

(D2 5

s ~ , ( ~ ) = ~ o ~ y , Ak(~) s~, k (~),

k=1 (2)

So(~) -- 4f~,] ,~=, Bk(S~) sxk(~)"

The frequency ~0 is of the o rder of the anode-c i rcui t bandwidth H a (see [3]).

420

TABLE 1

Ak(eo)

B,~ (ao)

Do~

D1 k

d N ~ q 0 ~-2 ~a d

d d

d

The f requency c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s Ak (~2) and B k (~) a re , in fact , the t r a n s f e r coeff icients between fluctu- a t ions in the p a r a m e t e r s Xk and the ampli tude f luctuations a 1 and /?. The s t ruc tu re of the exp res s ions for A k ( a ) and Bk(f~) is the same as that of A(~2) and B(g) found in [3].

However , the coeff ic ients in the expansions of Ak(~2) and Bk(f~ ) (we will not r eproduce these e x p r e s - sions he re because of the i r complexity) will be different both in appearance and in order of magnitude be- cause of the dependence of the f luctuation f o r c e s f l (t), f2 (t), and f3(t) on the f luctuations in the c i rcui t pa- r a m e t e r s . Graphs of Ak(~2) and Bk(a) will r e m a i n the same a s those of A(f~) and B(f~), shown in [3].

The o rde r of magnitude of the coeff ic ients A k and Bk is shown in Table 1. This table can be used to e s t ima t e the contr ibut ion of f luctuat ions in the va r ious p a r a m e t e r s to the ampli tude f luctuat ions of the anode and quar tz osc i l la t ions .

In the case of white p a r a m e t e r f luctuations, the spec t r a of the ampli tude f luctuations will , of course , coincide with the f requency c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s Ak(~2) and Bk(~2) and, as a l ready noted, they will be s im i l a r to the spec t r a of the natural ampli tude f luctuations.

Let us now cons ider the case when p a r a m e t e r f luctuat ions a re of the f l icker type. Suppose that there a r e p a r a m e t e r f luctuat ions whose spec t r a l densi ty is given by

Kk~ s~(a) = 2r f e I}" (3)

where Kkk = const , 0 < T < 3.

The spec t r a l dens i t ies of the ampli tude f luctuat ions for this case a re typical ly of the f o r m shown in Fig. t .

The values in the range 0 < 7 < 1 co r re spond to s ta t ionary p a r a m e t e r f luctuations (see [5], Section 1.6) and, in th is case , one can r ead i ly find the in tens i t ies of the ampli tude f luctuations, which turn out to be

(4)

where Aik = eonst, B i k = const, and A Ik < Bik"

In the ana lys i s leading to the above exp re s s ions we a s s u m e that c h (t) and fi(t) a re smal l enough. is r ead i ly seen that the condition for this is

K~,~ << 4~to ~ 1 s l n [ 2 (1 _ .r)] ~o~ Alk

It

(5)

This condition is thus essen t i a l ly the condition fo r the val idi ty of the pe r tu rba t ion theory . It follows f r o m Eq. (57 that , as 7 approaches unity, KX k mus t d e c r e a s e . This is connected with the fact that a ~ and

421

Fig. 1

S ffL)

(fi 2) as 7"*1. This in turn is connected with the fact that the spec t rum of pa ramete r fluctuations becomes nonintegrable near zero for 7 - 1, the corre la t ion functions for the p roces se s Xk(t), ~1 (t), and fl(t) do not exist, and the f l icker p roces se s themselves become nonstat ionary.

In this case , the conditions for (a~) and (f12) to be small reduce to a res t r i c t ion on the duration of the observat ions (for details see Section 4.6 in [5]).

3. FREQUENCY FLUCTATIONS

Let us now consider fluctuations in the quartz frequency v (t) = d~(t)/dt. By considering the fluctua- tion force fd t ) which direct ly affects fluctuations in the frequency v(t) we can establish that the main con- tr ibution of this force is due to fluctuations in the quartz capacitance C k. Fluctuations in C and C s have an effect which is lower by a factor of #a 1 , f i rs t ly , because of the weak coupling between the anode and quartz c i rcui ts (coupling coefficient s 2 ~ #a) and, secondly, because hk is small and of the o rder of Pa. Fluctuations in the capacitance C I have an effect which is smal le r by a fur ther factor of # ~ . The coupling coefficient s 1 ~ Pa is small.

It also follows f rom the express ion for f4 (t) that the frequency fluctuations of a quartz osci l la tor are due not only to fluctuations in the var ious circui t capaci tances (this is natural because w 1 and the frequency cor rec t ion A~ 0 depend on them), but also on fluctuations in the t ransconductance of the tube which is t r i - vial because w 0 does not depend on S. It is p rec ise ly for this r eason that frequency fluctuations depend on the derivative of t ransconductance fluctuations.

Therefore , although slow transconduetanee fluctuations do not affect the osci l la tor frequency, rapid t ransconductance fluctuations (and these are always present) do have a definite effect, although it is r e - duced by a factor of # ~ as compared with the effect of quartz capacitance fluctuations.

The foregoing discussion of pa rame te r fluctuations as a factor affecting fluctuations in v(t) r e f e r s also to the slow component of fluctuations in the frequency of the anode c i rcui t which are va(t) = v(t) + d~bl(t)/dt, where r is the phase difference between the quartz and anode oscil lations, since in this case we may suppose that va(t) -~ v(t).

There is an essent ia l difference between the fast fluctuations Va(t ) and v(t) since, in this case , v(t) do l 2_ da~ ,

is smal le r by a fac tor of ~a ~ than dr = m 0 dt dt whereas , according to Eq. (1), v(t) is smal le r than

d~ 2 da 3 dt and ~ by a factor of pE 1, owing to the weak coupling between the anode and quartz c i rcui ts (s 2 N Pa

and m 0 is of the order of p~

422

If we use the method desc r ibed in [3], we can der ive the following re la t ion between the spec t ra l den ' s i t ies of the quartz f requency fluctuations, and the anode f requency fluctuations, on the one hand, and the spec t r a l dens i t ies of the c i rcu i t p a r a m e t e r f luctuations, on the other :

5

&(f~) = o~ ~, N"k(Q) Sx~(f~), k = l

5

s,(a) = u ~ s s~{a) k = i

(6)

The f o r m of the functions Nvk(f~) and Nvak(f~) in the case of capaci tance f luctuations (k = 1, 2, 3, 4) will be the s ame as for the analogous functions Nv (S2) and Nva (f~), given in [3].

The f o r m of the functions Nv5 (~2) and Nva 5 (~2) cor responding to t ransconductance f luctuat ions is somewhat m o r e compl ica ted . Because v(t) depends on the der iva t ive dS/dt, the quantity Nv5 (f2) will contain t e r m s of the f o r m af~ 2 and b~22 + c~ r which, however , i nc rea se with f requency v e r y slowly within the f r e - quency band [0, Ha].

As in the case of na tura l f luctuations, the spec t r a l dens i t ies S V (f~) and Sva(~2 ) a re equal for ~2 <<wl/Qk (because the spec t r a l dens i t ies of the de r iva t ives da2/dt and d~s/dt a re ze ro for ~ = 0), and: then diverge s t rongly as ~2 i n c r e a s e s . For sufficiently high f requency Sva(~2) is g r e a t e r than Sv (~2) by a fac tor of #~2. This occu r s because for f requenc ies ~2 ~ ~20 the c i r cu i t s have no effect on each other owing to iner t ia , and since the i r Q f a c t o r s a re v e r y different , the spec t r a l dens i t ies Sv (~) and Sva(~) mus t differ sharp ly f r o m each other .

Despi te the fact that the functions Nvk(f~) have a compl ica ted f o r m and have a number of ex t r ema , they can, neve r the l e s s , be r ep l aced by the approx imate values

g~k(~2) = Dok = const,

since all the changes in Nvk (~) lie within one o rde r of magnitude. The o rde r of magnitude of the coeff i- c ients D0k is shown in Table 1.

Fo r f requenc ies ~2 ~ ~21 (f~l is of the o rde r of the bandwidth of the quartz c i rcui t ) , the functions Nvak(~) a r e of the s a m e o rde r as the cor responding functions Nvk(~). At f requenc ies c lose to f~0, when the influence of the quartz c i rcu i t is reduced, the Nvak ( f t ) increase by a fac tor of #a -2 , whe rea s at f requen- c ies f~ > f~0, they tend to the constant value Dlk. There fo re , in the ent i re f requency r ange which we are consider ing, we can r ep lace the exact va lues of Nvak (~) by the approx imate express ion

N~ak(Q ) = DokQ~ + Dlkfl ~

The c h a r a c t e r i s t i c f ea tu re of N v ak(f~) is the i r substant ia l reduct ion when ~2 << ~2~, as compa red with the s i tuat ion for ~2 >> f~0- f f w e suppose that SXk(~2) = const , the function Sva(~2 ) will be s im i l a r to Nvak(~2). This f o r m of the curve ( rapid fal l as ~ -* 0) is analogous to the f requency fluctuation spec t rum of a noisy osc i l l a to r locked to another noisy osc i l l a to r [6]. This analogy enables us to cons ider a two-c i r cu i t quar tz osc i l l a to r as a s y s t e m of two mutual ly synchronized osc i l l a to r s (using a single tube), one of which is the s ing l e -c i r cu i t quar tz osc i l l a to r and the other the anode c i rcu i t osc i l l a to r . In this case , the "good" osc i l - l a tor (having the higher Q circuit) begins to influence the "poore r " osc i l l a to r at sufficiently low fluctuation f requenc ies cor responding to the band width of the high-Q c i rcui t .

If we r e s t r i c t our at tention to quas t i s ta t ic f luctuat ions (i .e. , f r equenc ies 2 << ~21),we can show that

N , , k ( f l ) = N , ak ( f l ) = Do k = const,

and this is now an exact r e su l t . In this way, instead of Eq. (6) we now obtain :5

o~ ~ Do*Sxk(2)" (7) k = l

423

It follows that for quasis ta t ic p a r a m e t e r f luctuat ions the spec t r a of the anode and quartz f requency f luctu- at ions a re wholly de te rmined by the spec t r a of the p a r a m e t e r f luctuations.

4 . W I D T H A N D S H A P E O F T H E S P E C T R A L L I N E

It follows f r o m the foregoing d iscuss ion that the spec t r a l dens i t ies of the f requency fluctuations, S~ (f~) and Sv a (~ ) , do not vanish for ~ = 0 if the spec t r a of the p a r a m e t e r f luctuations extend to zero . It is well known that, in this case , the spec t r a l line of the osci l la t ion b roadens and the line width is of ma jo r in te res t .

Examples of f requency fluctuation spec t r a for f l i cke r - type p a r a m e t e r f luctuations a re shown in Fig. 1 (see Fig. 3 in [2]).

The approx imate express ion for the spec t r a l dens i t ies of the quartz and anode f requency f luctuations for ~ < f~l is seen f r o m Eq. (6) to be

5

S,('2) == S , ( s = -~- ]~]Do k 2=1s k = l

(8)

Using the r e s u l t s of Section 4.5 in [5], these spec t r a l dens i t ies co r r e spond to the following expres s ions for the re la t ive width of the osci l la t ion line, which is due to c i r c u i t - p a r a m e t e r f luctuations:

5

~f = 2,2[ .~ Do kK~k] ''2 ('f ---- 0,9),

5

~f= XDo,K~k-~blnl~2br) (7 = 1),

k ~ l

5 1[2

(9)

The shape of the spec t ra l l ines of the anode and quar tz c i rcu i t osc i l la t ions cor responding to the spec t ra l densi t ies given by Eq. (6) a re difficult to es tabl i sh because of computat ional compl ica t ions . Nev- e r the l e s s , it may be concluded that the shape of the spec t ra l line is in te rmedia te between the resonance shape and the Doppler shape for 0 < Y < 1, and as Y approaches unity, it a s s u m e s the pure Doppler shape (within the band containing mos t of the power) . When i -<- 7 < 3, the f requency f luctuations become non- s ta t ionary and, the re fo re , the width and shape of the spec t ra l l ines become functions of the t ime of m e a - su rement . The spec t r a l - l ine shape a s s u m e s the Doppler f o r m only a f t e r a ce r t a in definite t ime has e lapsed (see Section 4.5 in [5]).

5 . C O N C L U S I O N S A N D N U M E R I C A L E S T I M A T E S

We may conclude f r o m the foregoing ana lys i s that, in the case of technical f luctuations in a quartz osc i l l a tor , the posi t ion of the spec t ra l line and its width for the anode osci l la t ion will be p rac t i ca l ly the same as for the quartz osci l la t ion (this was also the case for the natural f luctuations). The bas ic di f ference between the quar tz and anode osci l la t ion s pe c t r a is , t he re fo re , only in the "pedes ta l s . " We may, the re fo re , suppose that the substantial i nc rease in Sva(~2) at f requenc ies ~ > ~1 leads to a higher spec t r a l line ped- es ta l for the anode osci l la t ions and to a m o r e va r i ed line shape as compa red with the quartz osci l la t ion pedes ta l . It follows that whenever it is n e c e s s a r y to have a lower pedesta l , it is be t t e r to take the osc i l la - t ions f r o m the quartz c i rcui t . If, on the other hand, we a re in te res ted only in the peak value of the spec- t r a l line of the quar tz osc i l l a tor , it is i m m a t e r i a l whether the output osci l la t ion is taken f r o m the quartz or the anode c i rcui t .

Another impor tant conclusion follows f r o m a c o m p a r i s o n between the values of the coeff ic ients D0k (Table 1). The o r d e r of magnitude of the coeff icients D0k enables us to m e a s u r e the contr ibut ion of the

424

pa rame te r fluctuations to the technical spectra l line width of the generated oscillation. It tu rns out that the l a rges t contribution to this line width is due to the quar tz -capaci tance fluctuations (if they are strong

0 The fluctuations in the remaining p a r a m e t e r s are highly attenuated by the enough) for which D O ~ ~ Pa �9 circui t . This enables us to obtain an approximate es t imate for the quar tz-capaci tance fluctuations by using the technical spectra l line width of the quartz osci l lat ions obtained experimental ly. If we take this line width relat ive to the spectra l line obtained in [7] (i.e., 6f = 3.3" 10 7 and 5 f= 5.5 �9 10-9), we have(forT = 0.9)

K a c K " ~ 10-14

K ~ c , , ~ 10 -1~

(3f = 3.3" 10-7),

(V = 6 5 . io-~).

Consequently, one would expect that the spectral density of the quar tz-capaci tance oscillations is of the order of

10-14-- lO-m (10) &c,,(-q) - 2~ [ ~ IT

We note that, as far as we know, there are no published measurements of quar tz-capaci tance fluctuations or any es t imates of their o rder of magnitude.

Fluctuations in the capaci tances C and Cs, for which the coefficients D02 and D04 are lower by a fac tor of tZa-2 than D o ~, are of the next order of small quantities as far as the contributions to the frequency fluctuations of the quartz osci l la tor are concerned. Consequently, for these fluctuations we must have K6C and K6C k ~ t~a 2 to ensure that the technical line width is the same. When ~ = Qa ~ 102, we must have K/~ C and K6C k N 10-t0for 6f = 3.3"10 -7 , and K6C, K6C k ~ 10-I4 for 6f = 5.5- 10 -8.

According to es t imates given in Section 3.4 of [5], in the case of fluctuations in the tube capaci tances , one may expect that K6C and K6C k are of the o rder of "~ t0-~4-10 -I6. Thus, a technical spect ra l line width of 5f = 5.5 �9 10 -9 may be completely due to fluctuations in C and Cs, whereas the technical fluctuations in a se l f -osc i l l a to r with a spec t ra l line width of the o rder of 10 -7 should be unaffected by them.

For fluctuations in the coupling capacitance C 1 and in the t ransconductance S of the tube (using Table 1 to est imate the corresponding D o 3 and Dos ) we should have K6C ~ and K6S "~ pa 4 i.e., KSC 1 and K6S ~ 10-~ for 6f ~ 10-Tand KSC 1 and K6S N 10-10 for 6f -~ 10 -$ (when p a ~ = 102). Such ah igh fluctuation intensity for the coupling capacitance is unexpected, but for the tube transeonductance fluctuations this o rder of K6S can be obtained if the circui t is supplied by "poor" supply sources {in the sense of f l icker fluctuations; see Table 1 in [5], Section 3.4), or when a tube has a "poor" cathode.

It follows that the main contribution to the technical line width of the quartz osci l la tor is due to fluctuations in the tube t ransconductance and quartz capacitance.

The authors are indebted to I. L. Bershtein and M. E. Gertsenshtein for useful c r i t i c i sms .

L I T E R A T U R E C I T E D

1. M. E. Zhabotinskii and P. E. Zi l 'berman, DAN SSSR, 119, 918, 1958. 2. A. N. Malakhov, Izvest iya VUZ. radiofizika, 9, no. 3, 622, 1966. 3. A. N. Malakhov, Izvest iya VUZ. radiofizika, 1_~1, no. 6, 850, 1968. 4. Yu. 1~. Aptek and D. P. Filatov, Radiotekhnika i elektronika, 1_~1, 759, 1966. 5. A. N. Malakhov~ Fluctuations in Self-Oscillating Systems [in Russian], izd. Nauka, Moscow, 1968. 6. A. N. Malkahov, Izvest iya VUZ. radiofizika, _8, no. 6, 1160, 1965. 7. D . A . Dmitrenko and A. I. Chikin, Izvest iya VUZ. radiofizika, _6, no. 6, 1271, 1963.

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