Fractional-Millimicrosecond Oscilloscope System Utilizing Commerically Available Components

Abstract

Equipment for use with signal rise times slower than a millimicrosecond is readily available commercially. Recent advances in high-energy physics have directed attention toward research in the fractional-mμsec region. The fundamental tools for such research are pulse generators and oscilloscopes. Suitable pulse generators are commerically available, but suitable oscilloscope systems are not. There are two important factors that account for the lack of such oscilloscopes. One is that contemporary amplifiers are useless in the fractional-mμsec region. The second is that output timing in commonly used trigger circuits is too sensitive to changes in input amplitude. This paper describes an internally synchronized oscilloscope system utilizing commercially available components, which provides less than 2% signal reflection at the sync takeoff point, and has less than 5×10−12 second of sweep-timing change per percent change in input amplitude (for amplitudes in excess of 30 trace widths).