Patent ID: 7019509

Claim:
A mechanical loss spectrometer comprising: an envelope detection circuit; a function generator operable to provide an input signal; a switch operable to receive the input signal; a resonator in communication with said envelope detection circuit, said resonator being operable to produce an output signal based on the input signal, to ringdown and to dissipate energy; a preamplifier operable to condition the output signal and output a conditioned signal; an amplifier in communication with said envelope detection circuit, said amplifier being operable to amplify the conditioned signal; and a computer processor operable to control said function generator, said switch and said resonator, wherein said switch is operable to decouple said resonator to allow said resonator to ringdown and dissipate energy, wherein said envelope detection circuit is operable to obtain a peak value of a selected threshold voltage as a function of a number of cycles executed by the input signal, the peak values constituting an envelope of the input signal.