AnaPico Switzerland recently introduced a compact, broadband frequency synthesizer for generating accurate and stable CW and pulsed signals between 100 kHz and 22 GHz. The APMSYN22 achieves −132 dBc/Hz phase noise at 20 kHz offset from a 1 GHz carrier, and subharmonics are below −60 dBc. Frequency resolution is 10 mHz, and the synthesizer switches between frequencies within about 10 µs. The unit’s output power range is −40 to +25 dBm and can be set with a resolution of 0.5 dB.
The synthesizer supports external references of 100 MHz and 1 GHz. Multiple units can be synced to create phase-coherent sources. One synthesizer will generate a 1 GHz reference that is looped through the other synthesizers. To illustrate the performance, with all channels set to 5 GHz, the inter-channel phase difference variation will remain within approximately ±0.5 degrees over 10 hours.
An Ethernet interface enables connection to a local or remote PC, where the unit can be controlled using AnaPico’s GUI software or SCPI commands. The synthesizer is enclosed in a compact, well shielded, flange-mountable housing measuring 125 × 100 × 20 mm and weighing less than 0.5 kg. It consumes just 17 W so the design uses passive cooling.
The APMSYN22 is suitable for many applications, including as a system clock source or in multi-channel phase-coherent configurations for radar, beamforming, spectroscopy and quantum computing. The combination of phase coherence and fast switching also, makes the synthesizer well suited for electronic warfare applications.
AnaPico AG
Zurich, Switzerland
www.anapico.com