The influence of a thermal noise on the accuracy of a spectrum analyzer based on a spin torque nano-oscillator

Abstract

It has been shown both theoretically [1] and experimentally [2] that a spectrum analyzer based on an externally driven spin torque nano-oscillator (STNOs) can perform high-speed, wide-band spectrum analysis in a microwave frequency band. In such a spectrum analyzer, an STNO generates a signal whose frequency is tuned in a linear manner over a scanning bandwidth Δf. Theoretical estimations show that when employing an STNO in spectrum analysis, the following can be achieved: a Δf of 10 GHz, a linear scanning rate ρ=Δf/T (where T is the scanning period) of up to 2 GHz/ns, all in a frequency range of operation between 200 MHz and 70 GHz [3]. The fast speed of frequency analysis in a STNO-based spectrum analyzer can be achieved mainly due to the nano-scale size of the STNO, and the consequent ns characteristic scanning times. At a sufficiently large scanning rate ρ, the accuracy of the frequency determination ΔF (defined as the minimum separation required to distinguish two neighboring frequencies) of an STNO-based spectrum analyzer is fundamentally limited by the bandwidth theorem. In contrast, at low scanning rates, this accuracy is limited by the STNO generation linewidth [4], which is determined by the thermal (or random-walk) noise that is causing the jitter of the STNO generation frequency. Fig. 1 shows the frequency accuracy ΔF as a function of the scanning rate ρ for the STNO-based spectrum analyzer [2], where the gray solid line is the result of numerical modeling, dash-dotted line is a result of the experimental measurement [2], and dashed line shows the limit due to the “bandwidth” theorem. It is evident that at sufficiently large scanning rate, ΔF approaches the fundamental limit ΔF =1/T, whereas at smaller ρ the ΔF is limited by the magnitude of the STNO linewidth.