Frequency stability enhancement from carrier-envelope resonance in a surface acoustic wave delay line oscillator

We have built a new injection-locking set-up which allows the study of low frequency noise in an oscillator. The interaction between a driving 100 MHz signal and a surface acoustic wave delay line oscillator undergoing a nonlinear modulational instability is investigated. Driving amplitude is used to control the synchronization range and therefore the frequency stability of a newly discovered carrier-envelope resonance process. In the soliton-locked regime, fundamental and subharmonic steps attached to a Lorentzian shape frequency-amplitude characteristic are found. They are explained thanks to a driven nonlinear Schrodinger model and the joined synchronization map. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.