Microwave Frequency Discriminator With Sapphire Resonator

Cooled sapphire resonator provides ultralow phase noise. Apparatus comprises microwave oscillator operating at nominal frequency of about 8.1 GHz, plus frequency-discriminator circuit measuring phase fluctuations of oscillator output. One outstanding feature of frequency discriminator is sapphire resonator serving as phase reference. Sapphire resonator is dielectric ring resonator operating in "whispering-gallery" mode. Functions at room temperature, but for better performance, typically cooled to operating temperature of about 80 K. Similar resonator described in "Sapphire Ring Resonator for Microwave Oscillator" (NPO-18082).