Time stretch enhanced recording oscilloscope

Abstract

Recording analog signals using photonic time-stretch technique in a mode which combines advantages of continuous signal capture, as in real-time analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), and very high bandwidth capability of (equivalent-time) sampling oscilloscopes, is proposed. It is shown that the eye diagrams of high speed serial data can be acquired at least 100 times faster than the fastest capture rates today. Unlike conventional sampling scopes, this technique can capture ultrafast dynamics of repetitive signals, nonrepetitive signals, and rare events. Experimentally, 45 Gbit/s data eye diagram measurement is demonstrated.