High-stability 72-GHz Gunn oscillator for the characterization of ultra-high-speed optical receivers based on InP and InSb Schottky diodes

A high-stability and excellent spectral purity 72-GHz Gunn oscillator was realized to characterize ultra-wide-band Schottky diodes based on intrinsic InP and InSb semiconductors. The developed microwave oscillator shows a relative frequency stability of 2/spl times/10/sup -9/ for observation times of 1 s and a collapse frequency of 4 THz. Preliminary frequency measurements of different emission lines of a far infrared laser demonstrate good detection efficiency with a typical bandwidth of 1 THz for these novel optical receivers.