Parametric Oscillator

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. A parametric oscillator is a harmonic oscillator whose parameters oscillate in time. For example, a well known parametric oscillator is a child on a swing where periodically changing the child's center of gravity causes the swing to oscillate.The varying of the parameters drives the system. Examples of parameters that may be varied are its resonance frequency ¿ and damping ß. Parametric oscillators are used in many applications. The classical varactor parametric oscillator will oscillate when the diode's capacitance is varied periodically. The circuit that varies the diode's capacitance is called the "pump" or "driver". In microwave electronics, waveguide/YAG based parametric oscillators operate in the same fashion. The designer varies a parameter periodically in order to induce oscillations.