Inventors:
John Champion - Highland MD, US
Robert Osiander - Ellicott City MD, US
Robert Givens - Frederick MD, US
Dennis Wickenden - Woodbine MD, US
Daniel Jablonski - Bethesda MD, US
Scott Radcliffe - Ellicott City MD, US
Margaret Darrin - Bowie MD, US
Thomas Macher - Columbia MD, US
Douglas Oursler - Columbia MD, US
International Classification:
G01R033/00
US Classification:
324/260000, 324/244000, 324/258000, 331/065000, 073/778000
Abstract:
A Lorentz force-driven mechanical resonator apparatus that utilizes a high-Q resonant structure as both a mixing device and a high-Q bandpass filter. Specifically, an external time varying, but quasistatic, magnetic field is applied to the resonating device while simultaneously running a time varying electrical current through the device. The resulting Lorentz force (I×B) is proportional to the vector product of the electrical current in the bar (I) and the external magnetic field (B). Integrating such a resonant device with a magnetic field coil produces the functionality of an ideal radio frequency (RF) mixer coupled with a high-Q intermediate frequency (IF) filter. Wide tunability provides the capability to scan, or even step, an array of filters having very narrow bandwidths via a common local oscillator to a desired frequency range.