Abstract

This paper presents an alternative interpretation to Groszkowski’s effect, which states that the oscillation frequency of a harmonic oscillator is shifted due to the higher harmonic currents flowing into the LC tank. Groszkowki’s analysis starts by taking a strictly memoryless amplifier, to which he derives and expression for balance of reactive powers. Then he interprets the frequency shift as a matter of balance of reactive energy in the tank. Here we show that although a conductive amplifier is memoryless, it can still show phase shift at the fundamental tone. This is due to mixing of the fundamental and harmonics in the nonlinear i-v response of the amplifier. Now the new interpretation comes from the oscillation condition: if the amplifier shows phase shift, the tank needs to compensate it, and this causes the shift in the oscillation frequency. The mechanism is explained, analysed symbolically, and verified numerically.