Synopsis
Precision Frequency Control, complete in two volumes, reviews the current status of the frequency control field with reference to its origins, and projection of its future trends. These books offer a concise compendium of the state of the art to researchers and specialists engaged in a rapidly expanding and complex field of technology. The set also serves as a sourcebook to the properties and capabilities of frequency-control devices irrespective of technological basis.
Precision Frequency Control will prove useful not only to researchers working in this diverse field, but also to electronic equipment and system designers, and to application engineers.
FROM THE PREFACE: The editors take pleasure in presenting this two-volume work on precision frequency control. The title encompasses the spectrum of frequency-determining and frequency-selective devices, subject to the constraint imposed by the adjective. A simple circuit consisting of an inductance and a capacitance can function as a frequency-controlling element. Its precision, however, is completely insufficient for modern electronic equipment. Different physical phenomena must be utilized to meet today's requirements. The discussion and explication of these phenomena and their applications are the main purposes of these books.
The aims are twofold: first, to offer a concise compendium of the state of the art to researchers and specialists engaged in a rapidly expanding and complex field of technology. It will enable them to work efficiently in their fields and to develop devices that meet the requirements of the equipment and systems engineer.
A second purpose of the books is to furnish information concerning properties and capabilities of frequency-control devices to users of these devices, such as equipment and systems designers. The volumes will also be very useful for technical managers who will be able to find, in a single publication, a description of the world of precision frequency control, written by experts, and an entree to the full literature of the field.
The idea of these books originated several years ago when the editors recognized that the literature in the field of frequency control was increasing at an explosive rate and that it would be extremely difficult, particularly for a novice in this field, to attain without guidance an essential level of knowledge in a reasonable time. Another incentive for compiling this text is the fact that there is no single book available on the world market that treats all precision frequency-control devices and allows the reader to weigh the advantages or disadvantages of the various technical approaches against one another.
The number of experimental observations and theoretical investigations in the field of precision frequency control has increased steadily over the past 60 years and has led, particularly during the past few years, to a deluge of original publications that is becoming more and more difficult to absorb in its totality, even for the trained specialist. In view of this, our aim is not to attempt to offer a textbook on the subject, but rather to provide a tutorial and coherent treatment of the more recent developments in the field, supported by an extensive literature reference list covering approximately the past fifteen years. The individual chapters are written by experts in their respective specialities. The editors feel that the fundamentals of this field, starting with the seminal works of the Curies, Voigt, Cady, Townes, Ramsey, and others, are very well represented in older textbooks and in many voluminous review papers and handbook articles whose titles the reader will find in the bibliography.
The material of the work is presented in two volumes, "Acoustic Resonators and Filters" (Volume 1) and "Oscillators and Standards" (Volume 2). The reader will find in the introduction to the bibliography, included in both volumes, some suggestions on how to use the chapter bibliographies to best advantage. The 16 chapters of the text can be read independently of one another. Their topics have been chosen to maximize the readability of the book, with lengths governed jointly by the number of publications pertinent to each chapter and by the importance the editors attach to each topic, although obviously it is impossible to discuss in the text all of the more than 5000 publications referenced. The selection of specific areas discussed is to a certain extent subjective, but we feel that they give a good indication of the overall progress in our field.
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