Amplitude modulation sidebands 2026-10-14
Apply the product-to-sum formula to the voltage model:The carrier wave component has peak voltage amplitude ; each AM sideband has peak voltage amplitude . These are temporal frequency spectrum components, unlike the spatial sidebands used in pattern stability. The separation makes the three positive angular frequencies distinct, and keeps the lower one positive. The span between sidebands is , or in hertz when ; this is the single-tone span, not a universal signal bandwidth for arbitrary messages.
A one-sided cosine-amplitude display assigns to the carrier line. A two-sided complex-exponential expansion instead assigns at each of , and at each of the four sideband locations. The signal is identical; confusing the conventions creates a factor-of-two error. An ideal infinite-duration sinusoid gives a spectral line. A finite recording and finite analyser resolution broaden the displayed peak.
For a voltage applied across an ideal resistor of electrical resistance , a component of peak voltage has root mean square voltage and mean power by Ohm's law. ThusThe proof of additivity is to average over a long time: cross-products of distinct frequencies have zero mean. Consequently the whole signal's root mean square voltage is , not simply its maximum wave envelope divided by . The carrier-component remains unchanged as varies.
With , and , the carrier supplies and each peak sideband supplies , giving total. At each sideband is peak and supplies , giving total. Neither case changes the carrier-component power.
The fraction of mean power in the message-bearing sidebands is . It is at and at . Conventional AM spends the remaining power on a carrier that enables an inexpensive envelope detector. Increasing beyond increases this fraction in the linear model but breaks ordinary envelope recovery. Removing the carrier gives suppressed-carrier amplitude modulation and changes the receiver requirement.
Doppler cooling force 2026-10-14
Use a closed two-level system with spontaneous emission population decay . Here is a decay rate in inverse seconds and also the full width at half maximum of the natural linewidth expressed in angular frequency. The corresponding full width in hertz is ; the angular half width is . These conventions determine every factor of two and below.
Let be the on-resonance saturation parameter of each beam, with total excitation weak enough that saturation and coherent coupling between beams can be neglected. The independent-beam scattering rates and net force areThe force is the photon momentum per absorption multiplied by the difference in absorption rates. With dimensionless laser detuning and dimensionless velocity , writeFor the example and , the positive and negative beam factors are respectively and . Thus : the atom is moving right and the net force points left. All values in this example are dimensionless.
Subtracting the two fractions gives an especially useful sign check:For red detuning, the force opposes nonzero throughout this ideal model; its useful magnitude eventually falls at large . Near zero, a Taylor series gives dampingAt , and . For blue detuning the sign reverses and the small-velocity motion is amplified; at exact resonance the opposing mean forces cancel in this symmetric model. Its derivation assumes weak excitation, a closed two-level system, equal beam intensities and nonrelativistic velocities; real multilevel atoms need additional physics.
Frequency deviation 2026-10-14
The peak frequency deviation is the largest absolute value of the instantaneous frequency offset from the chosen carrier wave frequency . For , it is . It is a frequency, measured in hertz, rather than a wave phase or an exact signal bandwidth.
Frequency modulation 2026-10-14
Frequency modulation carries a message by changing the instantaneous frequency of a carrier wave. In the ideal model the wave amplitude stays constant: information changes the rate at which the wave phase advances. Write a real electrical signal and its chosen complex representation asThe wave envelope in this representation has modulus throughout, although continually passes through zero. A smaller instantaneous value of therefore does not mean a smaller wave amplitude. The continuously unwrapped wave phase is measured in radians; its derivative is an angular frequency, while division by gives frequency in cycles per second, or hertz.
For a message expressed as an electric potential difference, an ideal voltage-controlled oscillator has sensitivity in hertz per volt and obeysThe integral is essential: putting the message directly into the wave phase gives phase modulation, whose instantaneous frequency instead depends on the message's derivative. Amplitude modulation changes the multiplying wave amplitude. These are different ways to encode the same kind of message signal.
An original slow illustration uses , message frequency , frequency deviation , and FM modulation index . With zero initial wave phase,Here is in seconds. The instantaneous frequency stays positive, between and ; the wave phase always advances. The oscillations bunch up where is large and spread out where it is small, while the wave envelope remains at .
This separation is useful in a receiver: changing a positive multiplying wave amplitude does not change the zero crossings of , so their timing still carries the message. Noise that moves those crossings, a vanishing wave amplitude, and frequency response distortion can still damage it. The surprising beauty of FM is that a constant wave envelope can conceal a rich frequency spectrum: the components interfere to change timing instead of the envelope's height.
Natural linewidth 2026-10-14
For a closed two-level system with spontaneous emission population decay and no additional dephasing, the natural linewidth has full width at half maximum in angular frequency, or in hertz. The excited-state lifetime is .


