Cross coupled LC oscillator with output on top

An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a repetitive electronic signal, often a sine wave or a square wave. Image File history File links Cross_coupled_LC_oscillator. ... Image File history File links Cross_coupled_LC_oscillator. ... An electronic circuit is an electrical circuit that also contains active electronic devices such as transistors or vacuum tubes. ... In trigonometry, an ideal sine wave is a waveform whose graph is identical to the generalized sine function y = Asin[ω(x − α)] + C, where A is the amplitude, ω is the angular frequency (2π/P where P is the wavelength), α is the phase shift, and C is the... A square wave is a kind of basic waveform. ...

A low-frequency oscillator (LFO) is an electronic oscillator that generates an AC waveform between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz. This term is typically used in the field of audio synthesizers, to distinguish it from an audio frequency oscillator. Low frequency oscillation, often abbreviated to LFO, is a term that predominantly refers to an audio technique specifically used in the production of electronic music. ... City lights viewed in a motion blurred exposure. ... Waveform quite literally means the shape and form of a signal, such as a wave moving across the surface of water, or the vibration of a plucked string. ... The term synthesiser is also used to mean frequency synthesiser, an electronic system found in communications. ...

Types of electronic oscillator

There are two main types of electronic oscillator: the harmonic oscillator and the relaxation oscillator.

Harmonic oscillator

The harmonic oscillator produces a sinusoidal output. The basic form of a harmonic oscillator is an electronic amplifier with the output attached to a narrow-band electronic filter, and the output of the filter attached to the input of the amplifier. When the power supply to the amplifier is first switched on, the amplifier's output consists only of noise. The noise travels around the loop, being filtered and re-amplified until it increasingly resembles the desired signal. A sine wave or sinusoid is a waveform whose graph is identical to the generalized sine function y = Asin[ω(x − α)] + C where A is the amplitude, ω is the angular frequency (2π/P where P is the wavelength), α is the phase shift, and C is the vertical offset. ... The term amplifier as used in this article can mean either a circuit (or stage) using a single active device or a complete system such as a packaged audio hi-fi amplifier. ... Television signal splitter consisting of a hi-pass filter (left) and a low-pass filter (right). ... In science, and especially in physics and telecommunication, noise is fluctuations in and the addition of external factors to the stream of target information (signal) being received at a detector. ... In electronics and signal processing, a filter is a device or process that modifies a signal. ...

A piezoelectric crystal (commonly quartz) may be coupled to the filter to stabilise the frequency of oscillation, resulting in a crystal oscillator. Piezoelectricity is the ability of certain crystals to produce a voltage when subjected to mechanical stress. ... For other uses, see Crystal (disambiguation). ... -1... Oscillation is the variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. ... A crystal oscillator is an electronic circuit that uses the mechanical resonance of a vibrating crystal of piezoelectric material to create an electrical signal with a very precise frequency. ...

There are many ways to implement harmonic oscillators, because there are different ways to amplify and filter. For example:

• Armstrong oscillator
• Hartley oscillator
• Colpitts oscillator
• Clapp oscillator
• Delay line oscillator
• Pierce oscillator (crystal)
• Phase-shift oscillator
• RC oscillator (Wien Bridge and "Twin-T")
• cross-coupled LC oscillator
• Vačkář oscillator
• Opto-Electronic Oscillator

The Armstrong Oscillator is named for Edwin Armstrong, its inventor. ... Schematic diagram The Hartley oscillator is an LC electronic oscillator that derives its feedback from a tapped coil in parallel with a capacitor (the tank circuit). ... A Colpitts oscillator, named after its inventor Edwin H. Colpitts, is one of a number of designs for electronic oscillator circuits. ... The Clapp oscillator is one of several types of electronic oscillator constructed from a transistor (or vacuum tube) and a positive feedback network. ... The Pierce oscillator is a type of electronic oscillator circuit particularly well-suited for implementing crystal oscillator circuits. ... A phase shift oscillator is a simple sine wave electronic oscillator. ... Electronic oscillators are often designed around an LC tank circuit, a tuned circuit formed with an inductor and a capacitor. ... Classic Wien bridge oscillator A Wien bridge oscillator is a type of electronic oscillator that generates sine waves without having any input source. ... An LC circuit consists of an inductor, represented by the letter L, and a capacitor, represented by the letter C. When connected together, an electrical current can alternate between them at an angular frequency of where L is the inductance in henries, and C is the capacitance in farads. ... A Vačkář oscillator is a variation of the split-capacitance oscillator model. ...

Relaxation oscillator

The relaxation oscillator is often used to produce a non-sinusoidal output, such as a square wave or sawtooth. The oscillator contains a nonlinear component such as a transistor that periodically discharges the energy stored in a capacitor or inductor, causing abrupt changes in the output waveform. A relaxation oscillator is an oscillator in which a capacitor is charged gradually and then discharged rapidly. ... Assorted discrete transistors A transistor is a semiconductor device, commonly used as an amplifier or an electrically controlled switch. ... See Capacitor (component) for a discussion of specific types. ... An inductor is a passive electrical device employed in electrical circuits for its property of inductance. ...

Square-wave relaxation oscillators can be used to provide the clock signal for sequential logic circuits such as timers and counters, although crystal oscillators are often preferred for their greater stability. In electronics and especially synchronous digital circuits, a clock signal is a signal used to coordinate the actions of two or more circuits. ... In digital circuit theory, sequential logic is a type of logic circuit whose output depends not only on the present input but also on the history of the input. ...

Triangle-wave or sawtooth oscillators are used in the timebase circuits that generate the horizontal deflection signals for cathode ray tubes in analogue oscilloscopes and television sets. In function generators, this triangle wave mays then be further shaped into a close approximation of a sine wave. Cathode ray tube employing electromagnetic focus and deflection Cutaway rendering of a color CRT: 1. ... Illustration showing the interior of a cathode-ray tube for use in an oscilloscope. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with signal generator. ... In trigonometry, an ideal sine wave is a waveform whose graph is identical to the generalized sine function y = Asin[ω(x − α)] + C, where A is the amplitude, ω is the angular frequency (2π/P where P is the wavelength), α is the phase shift, and C is the...

Other types of relaxation oscillators include the multivibrator and the rotary traveling wave oscillator. A multivibrator is an electronic circuit used to implement a variety of simple two-state systems such as oscillators, timers and flip-flops. ... In electronic instrumentation and signal processing, a time to digital converter (abbreviated TDC) is a device for converting a signal of sporadic pulses into a digital representation of their time indices. ...

See also

• Crystal oscillator
• Electronic circuit
• RLC circuit
• Voltage-controlled oscillator
• Injection locked oscillator
• Ring oscillator
• Opto-Electronic Oscillator

A crystal oscillator is an electronic circuit that uses the mechanical resonance of a vibrating crystal of piezoelectric material to create an electrical signal with a very precise frequency. ... An electronic circuit is an electrical circuit that also contains active electronic devices such as transistors or vacuum tubes. ... An RLC circuit (also known as a resonant circuit or a tuned circuit) is an electrical circuit consisting of a resistor (R), an inductor (L), and a capacitor (C), connected in series or in parallel. ... A voltage-controlled oscillator or VCO is an electronic oscillator designed to be controlled in oscillation frequency by a voltage input. ... Ring oscillators fabricated on silicon using PMOS MOSFETs. ...

External links

• Howstuffworks: oscillator.
• Oscillator Oddities.
• Tutorial on Precision Frequency Generation.