2-44 Figure 2-41.—Tunnel-diode amplifier. The desired frequency input signal is fed to port 1 of the circulator through a bandpass filter. The filter serves a dual purpose as a bandwidth selector and an impedance-matching device that improves the gain of the amplifiers. The input energy enters port 2 of the circulator and is amplified by the tunnel diode. The amplified energy is fed from port 2 to port 3 and on to the mixer. If any energy is reflected from port 3, it is passed to port 4, where it is absorbed by the matched load resistance. TUNNEL-DIODE FREQUENCY CONVERTERS AND MIXERS.—Tunnel diodes make excellent mixers and frequency converters because their current-voltage characteristics are highly nonlinear. While other types of frequency converters usually have a conversion power loss, tunnel-diodeconverters can actually have a conversion power gain. A single tunnel diode can also be designed to act as both the nonlinear element in a converter and as the negative-resistance element in a local oscillator at the same time. Practical tunnel-diode frequency converters usually have either a unity conversion gain or a small conversion loss. Conversion gains as high as 20 dB are possible if the tunnel diode is biased near or into the negative-resistance region. Although high gain is useful in some applications, it presents problems in stability. For example, the greatly increased sensitivity to variations in input impedance can cause high-gain converters to be unstable unless they are protected by isolation circuitry. As with tunnel-diode amplifiers, low-noise generation is one of the more attractive characteristics of tunnel-diode frequency converters. Low-noise generation is a primary concern in the design of today's extremely sensitive communications and radar receivers. This is one reason tunnel-diode circuits are finding increasingly wide application in these fields. Q-48. Name the procedure used to reduce excessive arcing in a magnetron? Q-49. What causes the negative-resistance property of tunnel diodes? Q-50. What determines the frequency of a tunnel-diode oscillator? Q-51. Why is the tunnel diode loosely coupled to the cavity in a tunnel-diode oscillator? Q-52. What is the purpose of the circulator in a tunnel-diode amplifier?
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