Name: Mwambu Geoffrey Collins

Students Number: 206005972

Registration Number: 06/U/ 5558/psa
How Oscillators Work

A basic oscillator is a capacitor and inductor connected together. As the capacitor discharges, the
current creates a magnetic field in the inductor. When the capacitor is fully discharged, the field
collapses and induces an opposite current that charges the capacitor again. This cycle continues
until all the energy is lost through resistance. The frequency of the oscillations depends on the
size of the capacitor and inductor.

Every component has some inherent electrical noise, and this noise provides the initial signal for
an oscillator. The output noise is sent back to the input as feedback to be filtered and amplified.
This process eventually turns the noise into a steady signal.

Harmonic Oscillators

These are also called sine-wave or sinusoidal oscillators because their output is a sine-wave.
There are many different ways of combining components to form these oscillators, and each type
has different properties. For example, the Colpitts oscillator uses a voltage divider for feedback,
while the Armstrong oscillator uses two inductor coils.

Relaxation Oscillators

These are also called non-sinusoidal oscillators because their distinctive sharp waveforms are
created by non-linear events, such as a sudden capacitor discharge. The frequency of the output
signal can be changed by altering the time it takes the capacitor to build up it's charge.
Oscillator Uses

Relaxation oscillators, such as the crystal oscillator, are used as timers and switches in many
devices, like digital watches, televisions and computers. Transmitters use harmonic oscillators to
create the carrier wave that carries their signal, and radios use them to demodulate the wave to
get that signal.
The exact response of a resonance, especially for frequencies far from the resonant
frequency, depends on the details of the physical system, and is usually not exactly
symmetric about the resonant frequency, as illustrated for the simple harmonic oscillator
above. For a lightly damped linear oscillator with a resonant frequency Ω, the intensity
of oscillations I when the system is driven with a driving frequency ω is typically
approximated by a formula that is symmetric about the resonant frequency:[5]

The intensity is defined as the square of the amplitude of the oscillations.

This is a Lorentzian function, and this response is found in many physical situations
involving resonant systems. Γ is a parameter dependent on the damping of the
oscillator, and is known as the line width of the resonance. Heavily damped oscillators
tend to have broad line widths, and respond to a wider range of driving frequencies
around the resonant frequency. The line width is inversely proportional to the Q factor,
which is a measure of the sharpness of the resonance.

In electrical engineering, this approximate symmetric response is known as the

universal resonance curve, a concept introduced by Frederick E. Terman in 1932 to
simplify the approximate analysis of radio circuits with a range of center frequencies and
Q values.
3. www.wikipedia.org