Rhodochrosite as Crystal Oscillator

Abstract

The electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials, such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA and various proteins) in response to applied mechanical stress, phenomenon called piezoelectricity. A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator circuit that uses the mechanical resonance of a vibrating crystal of piezoelectric material to create an electrical signal with a precise frequency. The most common type of piezoelectric resonator used is the quartz crystal, so oscillator circuits incorporating them became known as crystal oscillators. Particularly one using a quartz crystal, works by distorting the crystal with an electric field, when voltage is applied to an electrode near or on the crystal. This property is known as electrostriction or inverse piezoelectricity. When the field is removed, the quartz - which oscillates in a precise frequency - generates an electric field as it returns to its previous shape, and this can generate a voltage. The result is that a quartz crystal behaves like an RLC circuit, but with a much higher Q. Quartz crystals are manufactured for frequencies from a few tens of kilohertz to hundreds of megahertz. More than two billion crystals are manufactured annually. Most are used for consumer devices such as wristwatches, clocks, radios, computers, cell phones, signal generators and oscilloscopes.