Teledyne LeCroy demos 100-GHz real-time oscilloscope

Test and measurement equipment developer Teledyne LeCroy, Inc., a subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies Inc. (NYSE:TDY), has announced the demonstration of what it asserts is the first 100-GHz real-time oscilloscope. It also has announced development of an InP chip in collaboration with Teledyne Scientific for future high-speed oscilloscopes.

The 100-GHz real-time scope did not use the new InP chip, a source at Teledyne LeCroy said.

Demonstration of the 100-GHz prototype included the acquisition of signals at a rate of 240 gigasamples per second – with each sample about 4 ps apart – across the 100-GHz bandwidth. The demonstration system used a high-frequency microwave front-end developed by Phase Matrix, a National Instruments company; Teledyne LeCroy’s patented digital bandwidth interleaving (DBI) technology; and three high-speed analog oscilloscope channels.

Teledyne LeCroy describes the 100-GHz oscilloscope as “part way through the development process.” The company source reached by Lightwave declined to provide further details.

A 100-GHz real-time oscilloscope would provide the widest bandwidth on the market; Teledyne LeCroy’s current bandwidth leader, the LabMaster 10 Zi, offers 65 GHz of bandwidth. Expanding the bandwidth on real-time oscilloscopes would benefit a number of applications, particularly optical modulation analysis of coherent and other complex modulated optical transmission signals.

“Reaching 100-GHz real-time oscilloscope performance is one of many industry milestones achieved by Teledyne LeCroy,” said Tom Reslewic, chief executive officer, Teledyne environmental and electronic measurement instrumentation. “It reveals new phenomena, opens channels for new discoveries, and paves the way for vast improvements in the field of high speed measurement.”

The demonstration system uses chipsets based on silicon germanium. However, the new InP chip promises improved performance – or, as Teledyne LeCroy put it, “higher speed devices than can be designed in other known processes.” The design has been released for fabrication at Teledyne Scientific’s InP foundry. The company said it plans to introduce other chips for oscilloscope applications as well.

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