Measurements and Analysis of Cryogenic Sapphire Dielectric Resonators and DRO's

Presented are the experimental and computational results of a study on a new kind of dielectric resonator oscillator (DRO). It consists of a cooled, cylindrically symmetric sapphire resonator surrounded by a metallic shield and is capable of higher Q's than any other dielectric resonator. Isolation of fields to the sapphire by the special nature of the electromagnetic mode allows the very low loss of the sapphire itself to be expressed. Calculations show that the plethora of modes in such resonators can be effectively reduced through the use of a ring resonator with appropriate dimensions. Experimental results show Q's ranging from 3 x 10 to the 8th at 77 K to 10 to the 9th at 4.2 K. Performance is estimated for several types of DROs incorporating these resonators. Phase noise reductions in X-band sources are indicated at values substantially lower than those previously available.