Jackson Labs PHASE STATION 53100A, User Manual

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PhaseStation 53100A User’s Manual V1.04 25-Apr-2022 23
Figure 2: Front panel controls and features
Front panel features
The 53100A’s front panel includes the following features, located as shown in the color-keyed image
above:
- Two AC-coupled N-F input jacks that correspond to the primary REFERENCE and DUT signal
inputs. Measurements of RF signals from a single DUT and a single reference source will
normally use these two jacks as inputs.
- Each of the N-F input jacks is connected to an internal power splitter with two output ports,
which in turn are routed to a pair of
SMA-F output jacks below.
It’s important to note that the jacks associated with the power splitters are unconnected to
anything else internally. They are provided for operational convenience. Each splitter presents
a nominal 50-ohm load at its input port
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, where the signal is fed to two independent, identical
amplifiers whose outputs are also source-terminated at 50 ohms. Net gain from each N input
jack to its corresponding SMA output jacks is 0 dB nominal. These active splitters offer
advantages over traditional resistive or Wilkinson implementations in cross-correlated noise
measurement applications, including high isolation and well-defined port impedances with
minimal differential-mode noise.
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Specifically, both the DUT and REFERENCE ‘N’ jacks are coupled to their respective input splitters via ‘L’ networks consisting of 6.8 nF 100V
capacitors and 22 uH inductors. The four SMA input jacks are capacitively coupled as well when the instrument is configured for RF carrier
measurement. At power-up time, the 53100A will momentarily switch the SMA inputs to an alternate signal path for DC applications, which
presents a resistive load of approximately 10K ohms. Both the RF and DC paths can tolerate DC voltages up to +/- 24V.