Abstract: A microwave oscillator is shown to include an oscillator having an output and a control port and a feedback circuit disposed between the output and the control port of the oscillator. The feedback circuit includes a modulated laser, having an input and an output, the input responsive to a portion of a signal from the output of the oscillator and a photo detector having an input and an output, the input of the photo detector responsive to a signal from the output of the modulated laser delayed by a predetermined amount of time. The feedback circuit further includes a detector having a first and a second input and an output, the first input of the detector responsive to a signal from the output of the photo detector, the second input responsive to a portion of the signal from the output of the oscillator shifted in phase to be in phase quadrature with the signal at the first input of the detector and the output of the detector coupled to the control port of the oscillator.

Abstract: A microwave oscillator is shown to include an oscillator having an output and a control port and a feedback circuit disposed between the output and the control port of the oscillator. The feedback circuit includes a modulated laser, having an input and an output, the input responsive to a portion of a signal from the output of the oscillator and a photo detector having an input and an output, the input of the photo detector responsive to a signal from the output of the modulated laser delayed by a predetermined amount of time. The feedback circuit further includes a detector having a first and a second input and an output, the first input of the detector responsive to a signal from the output of the photo detector, the second input responsive to a portion of the signal from the output of the oscillator shifted in phase to be in phase quadrature with the signal at the first input of the detector and the output of the detector coupled to the control port of the oscillator.

Abstract: An oscillator includes an amplifier having an input and an output and a feedback circuit disposed between the input and the output of the amplifier. The feedback circuit includes a plurality of resonators and a pair of switches. Each switch includes a first port and multiple connectable ports, the multiple connectable ports of each switch connected to a corresponding one of the plurality of resonators. The feedback circuit further includes a voltage-controlled phase shifter disposed in series with the switches. The oscillator further includes a discriminator circuit, responsive to signals from the feedback circuit, for providing a control signal to the voltage-controlled phase shifter for degenerating low frequency noise within the oscillator. With such an arrangement, high Q low noise resonators can be switched in and out of the circuit thus providing improved phase noise performance at high power levels with the desirable frequency agility required for a microwave oscillator.