Delay line frequency discriminator for stabilizing an oscillator

Claim 1

A frequency discriminator for stabilizing an oscillator, comprising: first coupling means having an input fed with an oscillator signal to be frequency-stabilized and having first and second outputs which are each supplied with a wave of amplitude A corresponding to half the power of the oscillator signal fed to the input, said first coupling means comprising a first connecting means and a second connecting means including an electromagnetic transmission line respectively connected to said first and second outputs, said second connecting means introducing a delay t compared with said first connecting means, said delay t determining a tuning frequency; second coupling means having first and second inputs respectively coupled to outputs of said first and second connecting means for delivering a summation output signal representing the vectorial sum of the signals applied to said second coupling means from said first and second connecting means, said summation output signal corresponding to the stabilized output signal of said oscillator, said second coupling means also producing a difference output signal representing the vectorial difference of said two signals applied to said second coupling means from said first and second connecting means; third coupling means having a first input coupled to said difference output signal of said second coupling means; fourth coupling means for deriving a signal based on a sampling of said oscillator signal sampled at a selected point in a selected one of said first or second connecting means, and supplying a second input of said third coupling means with said derived signal; and a detector connected to an output of said third coupling means and delivering a frequency control signal having an amplitude dependent on the frequency deviation of said oscillator compared with the predetermined tuning frequency.