Mutual phase-locking of planar nano-oscillators

• Main Authors: K. Y. Xu, J. Li, J. W. Xiong, G. Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2014-06-01
• Series: AIP Advances
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4881879

Characteristics of phase-locking between Gunn effect-based planar nano-oscillators are studied using an ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) method. Directly connecting two oscillators in close proximity, e.g. with a channel distance of 200 nm, only results in incoherent oscillations. In order to achieve in-phase oscillations, additional considerations must be taken into account. Two coupling paths are shown to exist between oscillators. One coupling path results in synchronization and the other results in anti-phase locking. The coupling strength through these two paths can be adjusted by changing the connections between oscillators. When two identical oscillators are in the anti-phase locking regime, fundamental components of oscillations are cancelled. The resulting output consists of purely second harmonic oscillations with a frequency of about 0.66 THz. This type of second harmonic generation is desired for higher frequency applications since no additional filter system is required. This transient phase-locking process is further analyzed using Adler's theory. The locking range is extracted, and a criterion for the channel length difference required for realizing phased arrays is obtained. This work should aid in designing nano-oscillator arrays for high power applications and developing directional transmitters for wireless communications.