Effects of Electronic Frequency Dividers on Angle-Modulated Signals and Their Potential Applications in Frequency Analysis

Electronic frequency divider (EFD) is a common two port electronic component that is widely used in electronics and photonics. In this presentation, we discuss how an EFD responds to an angle-modulated signal in general and demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, that different modulation scenarios lead to different EFD output characteristics. In practice, such effects can help differentiate certain types of phase and frequency modulations, which is often difficult to accomplish with direct measurement of power spectral density (PSD). In addition, we show EFD-aided PSD measurement allows for quantitative assessment of wideband frequency-modulation parameters, such as modulation frequency, modulation index and frequency deviation, which is not possible with any conventional spectral analysis methods. The enhanced spectral specificity may benefit the field of frequency control by helping system designers more effectively identify potential fluctuation sources and their scales. The technique may also find applications in modulation recognition, radar technologies, laser frequency metrology, microwave photonics, etc.