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A lock-in amplifier (also known as a phase-sensitive detector) is a type of amplifier that can extract a signal with a known carrier wave from an extremely noisy environment (S/N ratio can be -60 dB or even less). It is essentially a homodyne with an extremely low pass filter (making it very narrow band). Lock-in amplifiers use mixing, through a frequency mixer, to convert the signal's phase and amplitude to a DC--actually a time-varying low-frequency--voltage signal.
The device is often used to measure phase shift, even when the signals are large and of high signal-to-noise ratio, and do not need further improvement.
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Current Location: 36-228
Vendor: http: //www.thinksrs.com/index.htmStanford Research Systems, Inc.
Manual: http://www.thinksrs.com/downloads/PDFs/Manuals/SR830m.pdf Instruction Manual
Specifications: http: //www.thinksrs.com/downloads/PDFs/Catalog/SR810830c.pdfDatasheet
LabView Programs: http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.model_page?p_model_id=1536 Available Through National Instruments
Price: $4500
Purchase Date: 10-3-2008
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