Lock-in Amplifier

Kevin Oskar Negron

1

1
Department of Physics, Cal State University of Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92831
Abstract. With this experiment we will become acquainted with individual components of the lock-in amplifier:
preamplifier, filter, noise generator, phase shifter.

I. INTRODUCTION
A lock-in amplifier is a type of amplifier that can
extract a signal with a known carrier wave from an
extremely noisy environment. It provides a DC output
proportional to the AC signal under investigation. The
special rectifier, which performs this AC to DC
conversion, forms the heart of the instrument. It is
special in that it rectifies only the signal of interest
while suppressing the effect of noise or interfering
components which may accompany that signal. The
traditional rectifier, which is found in a typical AC
voltmeter, makes no distinction between signal and
noise and produces errors due to rectified noise
components. The noise at the input to a lock-in
amplifier, however, is not rectified but appears at the
output as an AC fluctuation. This means that the
desired signal response, now a DC level, can be
separated from the noise accompanying it in the
output by means of a simple low-pass filter. Hence in
a lock-in amplifier the final output is not affected by
the presence of noise in the applied signal. This is
achieved by supplying it with a reference voltage of
the same frequency and with a fixed phase
relationship to that of the signal. This is most
commonly done by ensuring that they are derived
from the same source. The use of such a reference
signal ensures that the instrument will track any
changes in the frequency of the signal of interest,
since the reference circuit is locked to it. It is from
this characteristic that the instrument derives its
name. This inherent tracking ability allows extremely
small bandwidths to be defined for the purpose of
signal-to-noise ratio improvement since there is no
frequency drift, as is the case with analog tuned
filter/rectifier systems. Because of the automatic
tracking, lock-in amplifiers can give effective Q
values (a measure of filter selectivity) in excess of
100,000, whereas a normal band pass filter becomes
difficult to use with Qs greater than 50 [1].
II. EXPERIMENT 1.1 COMPONENTS
THE SETUP

For this section we utilized the following
equipment:
y Oscilloscope by Tektronix
y Lock-in Amplifier
y Voltmeter
THE EXPERIMENT
This part of the lab is divided into six parts in which
we will investigate the different components that the
lock-in amplifier has.
Part I: Gain Accuracy
In this part we investigate how gain affects voltage
output. We will do this by changing the gain and
comparing it theoretical.
Part II: Pre-Amplifier
The preamp module can be used as a non-
inverting, inverting, or differential amplifier with AC-
or DC- coupled high-impedance inputs and a gain
adjustable from 1 to 1000. Using a 1 kHz input signal,
verify the operation of the preamplifier. As with most
amplifiers above a certain frequency the output of the
preamplifier drops, and the frequency at which this
occurs depends on the selected gain. At each gain
setting, measure the frequency at which the output
drops off by 3 dB relative to the input at 1 kHz.
Part III: Low-Pass Filter
In this section we experimented with the effects of
the quality factor, Q. To see the effects of Q, choose
the low filter, set the cutoff frequency at
approximately 100 Hz, and measure the transfer
function (both magnitude and phase) for both
Butterworth and Q = 50. This can be done by
connecting the output of the function generator to
both Channel 1 on the oscilloscope and to the input
BNC on the filter module. Connect the output of the
filter you chose to Channel 2 on the oscilloscope. This
configuration will allow you to measure easily both
the input and output amplitudes and the relative
phase.
Part IV: Phase Shifter
The phase shifter will shift the phase of a
sinusoidal signal through 360. The coarse knob
changes the phase in 90 increments and the fine
knob allows more accurate adjustment of the phase.
Examine the operation of the phase shifter, and
carefully record your observations.
Part V: Lock-in\Amplitude Detector
We will be using the lock-in detector with an AC-
coupled input signal; adjust the two switches to these
settings. Verify the operation of this unit by
connecting the output of the function generator to
both the input of the lock-in detector and the input of
the phase shifter. Connect the output of the phase
shifter to the input reference of the lock-in detector.
Now examine the output of the lock-in detector on
the oscilloscope. Examine the effect of changing the
relative phase of the two signals and adjusting the
amplifier gain.
Part VI: Low-Pass Filter-Amplifier
Maintaining the setup in the last section, now
connect the output of the lock-in detector to both the
oscilloscope and to the input of the low-pass filter.
Connect the output of the low-pass filter to a DC
voltmeter to provide a digital readout in addition to
the provided analog scale. Select the 12 dB/octave
filter, turn off the DC offset, and use a 0.3 s time
constant. Verify the expected DC voltages for each of
the four waveforms from the previous section, and
the operation of the DC gain. Measure the DC voltage
as a function of the phase shift, and compare to
theory.

III. EXPERIMENT 1.2 REAL
EXPERIMENT
THE SETUP

For this section we utilized the following
equipment:
y Oscilloscope by Tektronix
y Lock-in Amplifier
y Function Generator
y Voltmeter
y Wire
y Breadboard with grounding knob
y Grounding device
y 1 resistor
y 10 resistor
y 100 resistor
y 1 resistor
THE EXPERIMENT
This section is split into four parts.
Part I: Measurement One
Set the function generator to provide an
approximate 10 Hz, 1 V
pp
sine wave, and wire the
connections to measure VA. Adjust the phase shifter
to provide the maximum positive DC output voltage.
Using the relationship between the DC output voltage
and the actual peak-to-peak input voltage you found
earlier, adjust the input voltage and/or attenuators so
that the actual input is 1 V
pp
. With these settings,
record the DC output voltage and gain settings used.
Now measure VB using the same settings on the
phase shifter. As VB is much smaller than VA, you will
need to increase the gain on the amplifier. Remember
to monitor the output of the lock-in detector for signs
of clipping. Now record the DC output voltage and the
gain settings used. Use these measurements to
calculate the resistance of the wire. Repeat this
procedure at frequencies of 30 Hz, 100 Hz, 330 Hz, 1
kHz, 3 kHz, 10 kHz, and 30 kHz.
Part II: Measurement Two
Using a fixed frequency, 330 Hz, follow the same
procedure as before; measure the resistance of the
wire at input peak-to-peak voltages V
A
of 1 V, 300 mV,
100 mV, 30 mV, 10 mV, 6 mV, and 2 mV.
Part III: Measurement Three
Now use a fixed frequency of 300 Hz and follow
the same procedure as before; measure the
resistance of the wire at input peak-to-peak voltages
V
A
of 1 V, 300 mV, 100 mV, 30 mV, 10 mV, 6 mV, and
2 mV.
Part IV: Measurement Four
Insert a 1 k isolation resistor between the
connection at VB and the input to the preamplifier.
Using a 6 mV input peak-to-peak voltage at VA at a
fixed frequency of 330 Hz and a 3 s time constant on
the low-pass filter, measure the resistance of the wire
and confirm that your measurement agrees roughly
with your previous measurements. Decrease the time
constant to 0.3 s and note that the output voltage is
fluctuating. Using a 0.3 s time constant, record 10
measurements of the voltage, each separated by a
few seconds (which is many time constants),
introducing as little bias into the measurements as
possible. Calculate the resistance of the wire for each
of these 10 measurements, and calculate the
standard deviation of these 10 measurements. Repeat
these measurements using isolation resistances of 10
k, 100 k, and 1M.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
EXPERIMENT 1.1
RESULTS
Part I: Gain Accuracy

V
in
(Volt) V
out
(Volt)
Gain
Expected
Gain Measured
(V
out
/V
in
)
Error (%) :=
(Expected-Measured)/Expected
0.103 0.108 1 1.05 5
0.103 0.208 2 2.02 1
0.103 0.502 5 5.05 1
0.103 1.02 10 9.90 1
0.103 2.12 20 20.6 3
0.103 5.20 50 50.5 1
0.103 10.2 100 99.0 1
0.103 20.6 200 200 0
0.0428 19.8 500 463 7.4
0.0212 18.2 1000 858 14.2

Part II: Pre-Amplifier

The table is of the gain setting and the -3dB crossover frequency.

Gain -3dB Frequency (kHz)
1 1390
2 970
5 660
10 563
20 340
50 150
100 40
200 9.4
500 3.6
1000 2.0



Part III: Low-Pass Filter

Below is a table for the Quality factor Q=0.707 and a cutoff frequency of 100Hz.


Frequency (Hz) V
in
(Volts) V
out
(Volts) t (ms) (Degrees)
20 1.06 1.06 23.2 360
o
ft=167
o

30 1.06 1.06 14.8 160
50 1.06 1.02 7.4 133
75 1.06 0.880 4.0 108
80 1.06 0.860 3.4 97.9

90 1.06 0.780 2.8 90.7
100 1.06 0.648 2.2 79.2
110 1.06 0.576 2.0 79.2
125 1.06 0.488 1.4 63.0
150 1.06 0.360 1.1 59.4
200 1.06 0.224 .52 37.4

The table below is for the Quality factor Q=50 and a cutoff frequency of 100Hz.

Frequency (Hz) V
in
(Volts) V
out
(Volts) t (ms) (Degrees)
20 1.06 1.16 25 180

30 1.06 1.34 16 173


50 1.06 2.88 10 180


55 1.06 4.32 9.4 186


5 10 50 100 500 1000
Gain
5
10
50
100
500
1000
Frequency kHz
Preamp Gain Setting versus the 3 dB Frequency
60 1.06 10.6 8.8 190


62 1.06 24.0 4.2 93.7


63 1.06 23.6 2.8 63.5


65 1.06 15.0 0.80 18.7


70 1.06 4.60 0.60 15.1
75 1.06 2.80 0.30 8.1


80 1.06 1.86 0 0


90 1.06 1.10 0.40 13.0
100 1.06 .760 0.40 14.4
110 1.06 .580 0.40 15.8
125 1.06 .400 0.40 18.0
150 1.06 .280 0.16 8.64
200 1.06 .180 0.16 11.5



Part IV: Phase Shifter

Below are values for the read phase shift , V
out
, t, and the measured phase shift
ex
for the input sine
signal of 1V at 1kHz.

(Degrees) V
out
(mV) t (s)
ex
(Degrees)
0 888 20 7.2
15 696 50 18
30 560 80 28.8
45 504 150 54
60 560 210 75.6
100 50 200 30 150 70
Frequency Hz
0.5
1.0
2.0
5.0
10.0
20.0
Output Voltage Volts
Output Voltage Volts versus Frequency Hz
Q.707
Q50
75 720 250 90
90 888 270 97.2
105 696 290 104.4
120 544 340 122.4
135 496 390 140.4
150 552 460 165.6
165 720 500 180
180 888 520 187.2

Below are the values of frequency, read phase shift , t, and measured phase shift,
ex
, for an input
sine waveform.

Frequency (Hz) (Degrees) t (s)
ex
(Degrees)
100 180 1500 54.0
500 180 620 112
1000 180 480 173
1500 180 300 162
5000 180 42 75.6

The following snap shots are of the effect of the phase shifter on the period of the sinusoidal wave. Go
to the discussion section for more information.









Part V: Lock-in\Amplitude Detector

Below is a table of phase shift, , of the input reference of the lock-in detector, and V
out
for a 1kHz
44mV
pp
signal with a gain of 2.

(Degrees) V
out
(mV)
0 50
45 78
90 90
135 74
180 54
225 78
270 92
315 76

Below is a table of read Gain, and V
out
, and the measured Gain, for a given phase of the
input reference of the lock-in detector of 90
o
and a 44mV
pp
sine signal.

Gain V
out
(mV) Measured Gain
2 90 2.05
5 208 4.73
10 416 9.45
20 900 20.5
50 2120 48.2
100 4240 96.4
200 8600 195
500 20600 468

Part VI: Low-Pass Filter-Amplifier

Below is a table of phase shift, , DC output and V
pp
, for a 1.04V
pp
signal.

(Degrees) DC Volts V
pp
(Volts)
0 0 2.08
45 -0.55 1.12
90 -0.62 2.08
135 -0.29 1.04
180 0 1.56
225 0.56 1.96
270 0.62 1.52
315 0.28 1.04

Below are values for V
in
, DC output and the ratio of the two for the Low-Pass Filter-Amplifier.

V
in
(AC Volts) V
out
(DC Volts) Ratio (V
in
/V
out
)
200 0.12 0.60
500 0.31 0.62
700 0.45 0.643
1000 0.62 0.62
1300 0.81 0.623
1500 0.94 0.627



DISCUSSION AND REMARKS
Part I: Gain Accuracy
The gain, for the most part, was close to what the theoretical value should be. This is very crucial since for the
rest of the laboratory we will be using it.
Part II: Pre-Amplifier
Here is the code I used to produce the plot in Mathematica:
ListLogLogPlot
AxesLabel uain Fiequency kBz PlotLabel Pieamp uain Setting veisus the uB Fiequency.

We see that as the gain increases the crossover frequency decreases. We also can see that there is a point
where it rapidly decreases, around a gain of 50, and then it stabilizes a little as the gain becomes much larger.

Part III: Low-Pass Filter
Here is the code I used to produce the plot in Mathematica:

lowpassuata


lowppassqpt707

ListLogLogPlotlowpassuata lowppassqpt AxesLabel
Fiequency Bz 0utput voltage volts PlotLegenu Q Q egenuPosition
LegenuSize PlotLabel
0utput voltage volts veisus FiequencyBz PlotNaikeis

It seems that the higher quality factor, Q, had a greater range in filtering out signals. For the Q equal to 50, it
had the highest V
out
at 62Hz whereas for the Q=.707 the highest recorded was 1.06 like the input voltage.

Part IV: Phase Shifter
The phase shifter modified the period of the sinusoidal wav, as seen in the snap shot. Notice also that the
absolute amplitude remained the same through each of the shifts. The absolute phase shift is changes with the
change in frequency.

Part V: Lock-in\Amplitude Detector
As we modified the phase shift the output voltage cycled, from the data is seems that the output voltage
increased from the phase shift of zero to ninety and decreased from ninety to 180 and then increased when
shifting to 270. Modifying the gain also yielded the results we had hoped, expected; it multiplied our input signal
by the gain factor.

Part VI: Low-Pass Filter-Amplifier
The maximum measured DC output was .62 DC Volts this was accompanied with an input V
PP
of 1.04 Volts.
EXPERIMENT 1.2
RESULTS
Part I: Measurement One

The dimensions of the wire are 0.49mm in diameter and 19.9cm in length.

The table is of the frequency of the input the value of V
A
the output DC voltage, the gain, and the
calculated value of V
B
, R
wire
and the resistivity.

Frequency
(Hz)
V
A
(Volts)
DC
Voltage
Gain V
B
(Volts)
DC/(.62*Gain)
R
wire
() Resistivity (*m)
=A*R/L
10 1 0.81 10000 130V 0.130645161 1.23738E-07
30 1 1.49 25000 96.1V 0.096129032 9.10465E-08
100 1 1.52 25000 98.1V 0.098064516 9.28797E-08
330 1 1.82 25000 117V 0.117419355 1.11211E-07
1000 1 1.69 25000 109V 0.109032258 1.03268E-07
3000 1 1.03 25000 66.5V 0.066451613 6.29382E-08
10000 1 0.42 25000 27.1V 0.027096774 2.56641E-08
30000 1 0.66 50000 21.3V 0.021290323 2.01647E-08



Element Resistivity at 20 C
(.m)
Aluminum 2.82 x 10-8
Constantan 4.9 x 10-7
Copper 1.7 x 10-8
Germanium 4.6 x 10-1
Gold 2.44 x 10-8
Iron 1.0 x 10-7
Glass 1010 to 1014
Lead 2.2 x 10-7
Manganin 4.82 x 10-7
Mercury 9.8 x 10-7
Silicon 6.40 x 102
Platinum 1.1 x 10-7
Silver 1.59 x 10-8
Tungsten 5.6 x 10-8


Part II: Measurement Two

The table is of the values for an input signal of 330Hz.

VA (mVolts) DC Voltage Gain VB (Volts) Rwire ()
1000 0.723 10000 117 0.117
300 0.198 10000 31.9 0.106
100 0.092 10000 14.8 0.148
10 50 100 500 1000 5000110
4
Frequency kHz
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
R
Wire

Resistance of the Wire as a Function of Frequency

30 0.155 50000 5.00 0.167
10 0.055 50000 1.77 0.177
6 0.011 25000 0.710 0.118
2 0.025 100000 0.403 0.202



Part III: Measurement Three

The table is of values for an input signal of 300Hz. Note for values at and below 10mV input the error
was above 100%.

V
A
(mVolt) DC Voltage Gain V
B
(Volt) R
wire
()
1000 0.81 10000 131 0.131
300 0.28 10000 45.2 0.151
100 0.23 25000 14.8 0.148
30 0.065 25000 4.19 0.140
10 0.025 50000 0.806 0.0806

0.005 0.010 0.050 0.100 0.500 1.000
V
A
Volts
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
R
Wire

Resistance of the Wire as a Function of V

A


Part IV: Measurement

With a 1k isolation resistor and a 6mV
pp
330Hz signal with a low pass filter time constant of = 3, we
measured the output DC voltage of 0.011V at a gain of 50000. These values give us a resistance of the
wire to be 0.1183.

Below are ten, eleven for R
iso
=1M, values of the DC output (measured in mV) for a 6mV
pp
330Hz signal
with a low pass filter time constant of = 0.3.

R
iso
=1k
Gain=50K
10.4
mV
12.0
mV
13.6
mV
7.0
mV
8.9
mV
15.8
mV
8.6
mV
11.9
mV
11.9
mV
11.1
mV
N/A
R
iso
=10k
Gain=100K
31.7
mV
5.6
mV
-0.7
mV
10.7
mV
16.7
mV
2.7
mV
-10.8
mV
3.4
mV
7.6
mV
2.7
mV
N/A
R
iso
=100k
Gain=100K
-10.7
mV
9.9
mV
-1.9
mV
1.5
mV
35.8
mV
11.4
mV
-16.6
mV
-12.2
mV
12.8
mV
-10.8
mV
N/A
R
iso
=1M
Gain=100K
19.0
mV
12.3
mV
8.5
mV
-4.5
mV
-22.8
mV
-17.5
mV
1.9
mV
-10.5
mV
6.8
mV
6.1
mV
4.5
mV

0.02 0.05 0.10 0.20 0.50 1.00
V
A
Volts
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
R
Wire

Resistance of the Wire as a Function of V

A

DISCUSSION AND REMARKS
Part I: Measurement One
The code used to produce the plot in Mathematica:
vbBCvoltage uain
BCvoltage
.62

uain
datam

vb.42

vb
vb
vb
vb
vb
vb.81
vb.66

ListLogLineaiPlotuatam AxesLabel Fiequency kBz R

PlotLabel
Resistance of the Wiie as a Function of Fiequency.

Notice also that the formula has a Gain, this is due because of a miscount; we did this to amend the error we
had done. Also in Mathematica the table did look like a table, I could put it in input form here but I choose not to
since it is aesthetically unpleasant. The material seems to be very close to Aluminum or Iron, my guess it is
aluminum. The table is from [2]. From the plot, the resistance of the wire seems to be affected by range
frequencies, resonance?, and after the frequency gets really high the resistivity is low.

Part II: Measurement Two
Here is the code I used to produce the plot in Mathematica:
ListLogLogPlot
AxesLabel uain Fiequency kBz PlotLabel Pieamp uain Setting veisus the uB Fiequency.

We see that initially as we increase V
A
, the resistance of the wire increases and then steadily start to decrease
until it picks up around .500 Volts.

10
8
10
5
0.01 10 10
4
R
Isolated

10
5
0.001
0.1
10
1000
Standard Deviation
Standard Deviation of the Measurements of the Resistance of the Wire as a Function of Isolation Resistance

Part III: Measurement Three
Here is the code I used to produce the plot in Mathematica:

vbBCvoltage uain

uatam
vb

vb

vb

vb

vb

;
ListLogLineaiPlotuatam AxesLabel v

volts R

PlotNaikeis sPlotLabel
Resistance of the Wiie as a Function of v

It seem that the change in frequency has increases DC voltage, for the most part, and also affected R
Wire
, for
the most part it is larger than before. We still get the rapid increase with a decreasing rate of change.

Part IV: Measurement Four
For the standard deviation, Mathematica has a built-in function. There was one problem with that function,
when trying to plot it along with resistance, initially it gave the standard deviation as a string that is why in the
code I did not use data to plot the log-log plot instead I put the values manually. The dense curve is the square
root of x. We had a problem with displaying the proper number of point and curve; the problem was the range, it
did not cover sufficient lower point for the theoretical value, square root of x.

The code used in Mathematica:
huc R uain


.62.5

.006
ik
h.0104
h.012
h.0136
h.007
h.0089
h.0086
h.0119
h.0158
h.0111
h.0119
ik
h.0056
h.0007
h.0107
h.0167
h.0027
h.0108
h.0034
h.0076
h.0027
ik
h.0107
h.0099
h.0019
h.0015
h.0358
h.0114
h.0166
h.0122
h.0128
h.0108
ik
h.019850
h.0123
h.0045
h.0228
h.0175
h.0019
h.0105
h.0068
h.0061
h.0045

uata
StanuaiuBeviationik
StanuaiuBeviationik
StanuaiuBeviationik
StanuaiuBeviationik

b
ListLogLogPlot
Automatic AxesLabel R
Isolateu
Stanuaiu Beviation PlotLabel
Stanuaiu Beviation veisus Isolateu Resistance

Stanuaiu Beviation PlotLabel

Stanuaiu Beviation of the Neasuiements of the Resistance of the Wiie as a Function of Isolation Resistance
Show



IX. CONCLUSION
In this lab became aquatinted with most of the
components of the lock-in amplifier. Lock-in
amplifiers use a frequency mixer to convert the
signal's phase and amplitude to a DC voltage signal.
The device is can used to measure phase shift, even
when the signals are large and of high signal-to-noise
ratio, and do not need further improvement.
It can also recover signals at low signal-to-noise ratios.
As far as the experiment goes, not much could have
been done to improve our results, with one exception
in measurement four of experiment 1.2.
EXPERIMENT 1.1
There is not much to say here. The data was
consistent with what we had expected. The goal of
this section was to be aquatinted with the materials,
this was a success. Most of the error was systematic;
the rounding gave us mistake in this section of the
laboratory. If we had more precise equipment, we
could have had lower our error. Alternatively we
could have had simulated the experiment with
Multisim 11.0 by National Instruments. We could
have simulated the lock-in amplifier component by
component through its schematic. The program has a
built in noise receiver and generator. With this we
could have had verified the data, and the simulation
data is very accurate.
EXPERIMENT 1.2
The results for the first three measurements were
fair. The sample size of the data was very small; to
improve the results and data it would be best if we
took more data points, which due to time constraints
we didnt. Measurement four results were not really
great, in fact they were horrible. We were off the
theoretical value. There were many factors that lead
to this huge error, first the wire was very susceptible
to the surrounding; if touched, accidentally or not, the
measured DC output would change dramatically. We
also had to ground it, but this in itself proved to be a
hassle. Since resistance of the wire was so small,
coming in contact with any other material made the
DC voltage change even if the source was grounded.
To go around this problem the most logical step
would have had been to solder the wire. Another
problem was the data collection; as we increased the
isolated resistance, just for the last two, the DC
output was varying greatly. The data collection was
taken by covering the voltmeter and counting five
seconds and looking and whatever number we had
we wrote down. To improve this experiment, we
should have had soldered the wire to a grounded
source, for less movement.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank all the people who
made this lab possible, Dr. Smith for guiding us in
through part of the lab, Danny Orton and Timothy
Plett for being extraordinary and reliable lab partners.
The calculations were made using Mathematica 8.0.1
by Wolfram.

REFERENCES
1. P. Horowitz and W. Hill, The Art of Electronics 2
nd

edition, New York: Cambridge Press, 1989
2. Giancoli, Douglas C., Physics, 4th Ed, Prentice Hall,
(1995).
3. P. Horowitz and W. Hill, Students Manual for The
Art of Electronics, New York: Cambridge Press,
1989