Development of the new prototype of an ultra-stable quartz oscillator

Year: 2010

Alexander Kuna, Ph.D.

Excellent measurement capabilities of the Laboratory of time and Frequency of the Institute of Photonics and Electronics, AS CR, v. v. i., (IPE) plays an important role in evaluation of the frequency stability of ultra-stable quartz oscillators being developed by Oscilloquartz Neuchatel, Switzerland. The noise properties of quartz resonators are first evaluated in the French laboratory FEMTO-ST. The resonators are then built into oscillators by Oscilloquartz, and the frequency stability of their best pieces is finally evaluated in IPE. Our measurement system with the lowest ever reported value of background noise thus significantly contributed in the development of a prototype of the new ultra stable BVA oscillator for which the noise floor of 2.5∙10−14 in terms of Allan deviation was measured. Such improvement in noise properties of the quartz oscillators was the most dramatic achievement since within the last 15 years.

1. Salzenstein, P. – Kuna, A. – Šojdr, L. – Chauvin, J.: Significant step in ultra-high stability quartz crystal oscillators. Electronics Letters, Sv. 46 (2010). 1433-1434.
2. Salzenstein, P. – Kuna, A. – Šojdr, L. – Sthal, F. – Cholley, N. – Lefebvre, F.: Frequency stability measurements of ultrastable BVA resonators and oscillators. Electronics Letters, Sv. 46(2010), 686-687.