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Description / Abstract:
INTRODUCTION
While the term parametric amplifier implies a device which
operates by virtue of the variation of some parameter, resistive or
reactive, current usage applies it to circuits in which only a
reactance is varied. When applied to electron beam devices and
devices employing distributed nonlinear media, the variable
parameter is equivalent to a reactance in the sense that it is
associated with energy storage rather than energy dissipative
properties of the beam or medium. The qualifier, reactance, is more
frequently applied to circuits in which the variable element is an
easily identified lumped reactance. The qualifier, parametric, is
more frequently applied to electron beam and distributed parameter
devices, but can include the variable reactance devices as well.
Thus in any of the following definitions, reactance may be used in
place of parametric. These definitions are intended to exclude
devices which operate by virtue of variable resistance or negative
resistance.
There is some confusion as to whether a reactance amplifier
operates by virtue of a nonlinear reactance or a time-varying
reactance. It is recognized here that while all practical
embodiments make use of nonlinear elements, the effect of the pump
is to make them behave as time-varying elements. Thus in its
simplest form, the concept of a reactance amplifier is based on the
assumption that the pump is sufficiently large and the signals are
sufficiently small that the nonlinear element can be replaced as
far as the signals are concerned by an equivalent, linear,
time-varying element. In these definitions the small signal
restriction is assumed.
There is some past usage which has made the term amplifier apply
to any device having power gain even though the input and output
signals are at different frequencies. While these definitions
permit this usage, it is recommended that the term amplifier be
restricted to those devices having the same input and output
frequency, and its application to frequency converters is
deprecated.
There exist devices for which the names are composites of the
following terms. No definitions have been given for such
combinations where the meanings are sufficiently obvious