When an amplifier is operated without feedback it is operating in "open loop" mode. With feedback (either positive or negative) it is in "closed loop" mode. In ordinary amplifiers negative feedback is used to provide advantages in bandwidth, distortion and noise generation, and in these circuits the closed loop gain of the amplifier is much less than the open loop gain. However when positive feedback is used in an amplifier system the closed loop gain (with feedback) will be greater than the open loop gain, the amplifier gain is now increased by the feedback. Additional effects of positive feedback are reduced bandwidth, (but this does not matter in an oscillator producing a sine wave having a single freqency), and increased distortion. However even quite severe distortion in the amplifier is allowed in some sine wave oscillator designs, where it does not affect the shape of the output wave.
In oscillators using positive feedback it is important that amplitude of the oscillator output remains stable. Therefore the closed loop gain must be 1 (unity). In other words, the gain within the loop (provided by the amplifier) should exactly match the losses (caused by the feedback circuit) within the loop. In this way there will be no increase or decrease in the amplitude of the output signal, as illustrated in Fig. 1.1.2.