Optically strobed sampling oscilloscope

Abstract

Describes an optically strobed sampling oscilloscope which uses optical pulses from a GaAs laser diode to strobe a Cr-doped GaAs photoconductor which serves as a sampling gate. This sampling gate has been used with a commercial sampling oscilloscope to provide a sampling measurement capability that can measure higher voltages than conventional samplers and does not exhibit strobe pulse kickout. Preliminary tests indicate a time resolution, limited by the width of the optical pulse used, for about 100 ps.