Microwave oscillator employing a cavity resonator having dielectric walls used as a quarter wave impedance transformer

Claim 2

A microwave oscillator comprising a hollow cylinder having a wall of dielectric material, a pair of conductive contact members closing the ends of said hollow cylinder, a semiconductor diode positioned within said hollow cylinder and having one terminal of said diode contacting one of said conductive contact members, a supply wire connecting the other terminal of said semiconductor diode to the second contact member, said cylinder and contact members cooperating to form a cavity resonator, said cylinder wall having a dielectric constant and a thickness to form an impedance transformer for matching the cavity resonator to an external load, the electrical length of said impedance transformer being substantially one quarter of the wavelength of the resonant frequency of the cavity resonator.

Claim 3

A microwave oscillator as claimed in claim 1 wherein said hollow cylinder forms the impedance transformer.

Claim 4

A microwave oscillator as claimed in claim 1 wherein the internal faces of the contact members lying within the hollow cylinder are provided with annular recesses to change the resonant frequency of the cavity resonator.

Claim 5

A microwave oscillator as claimed in claim 1 further comprising mechanical means for tuning said cavity resonator.

Claim 6

A microwave oscillator comprising a hollow cylinder of dielectric material, a pair of contact members for closing the ends of said hollow cylinder, one of said contact members being entirely conductive and the other being divided into conductive sections insulated from each other, a plurality of semiconductor diodes positioned within said hollow cylinder, one terminal of said diodes contacting said entirely conductive contact member, the number of sections of said contact member having insulated conductive sections corresponding to the number of said diodes, a plurality of supply wires for connecting said diodes to said contact member having insulated conductive sections, each supply wire connecting the second terminal of said diodes to one section of said contact member having insulated conductive sections, said cylinder, contact members, and supply wires cooperating to form a plurality of cavity resonators having an impedance transformer for matching said cavity resonators to an external load, the electrical length of the impedance transformer being substantially one quarter of the wavelength of the resonant frequency of each cavity resonator.

Claim 7

A microwave oscillator comprising a hollow cylinder of dielectric material, a pair of contact members for closing the ends of said hollow cylinder, one of said contact members being entirely conductive and the other being divided into conductive sections insulated from each other, a plurality of semiconductor diodes positioned within said hollow cylinder, one terminal of said diodes contacting said entirely conductive contact member, the number of sections of said contact member having insulated conductive sections corresponding to the number of said diodes, a plurality of supply wires for connecting said diodes to said contact member having insulated conductive sections, each supply wire connecting the second terminal of said diodes to one section of said contact member having insulated conductive sections, said cylinder, contact members, and supply wires cooperating to form a plurality of cavity resonators having an impedance transformer for matching said cavity resonators to an external load, the electrical length of the impedance transformer being substantially one quarter of the wavelength of the resonant frequency of each cavity resonator.

Claim 8

A microwave oscillator as claimed in claim 5 wherein said supply wires are connected so that the supply wires leading to adjacent sectors are located near each other and extend parallel to each other over a large part of their length.

Claim 9

A microwave oscillator as claimed in claim 5 wherein said plurality of semiconductor diodes comprise at least one diode having a voltage variable capacitance.