madshaman, do you have ieeexplore access? "DC to 1 gigahertz multikilovolt voltage probe" describes a self-built probe, self built by master student with access to a metal shop and a network analyzer though.
Bah. $31 for non-members.
Guess I'll just have to do without it, since I am currently broke. Bad case of Ebay splurge syndrome.

Thanks for the link! What are you working on?
In general, an interest in the behavior of arc plasma paths as HF transmission lines.
Specifics - don't wish to say, due to potential commercial applications.
Not opposed to HV transformer oil of some sort. The reason I immediately thought of paraffin is that:
a) it's an excellent insulator
b) it's a solid a lower temperatures and I can avoid accidentally spilling it all over my lab ^^' and I figure it's much less messy to work with
c) I can go buy it in large quantities pretty much anywhere and I've used it before
Hmm... actually, you may have converted me. For small setups anyway. I've only used it as sculptural material for lost wax process, in which you burn it out as fast and hot as possible. But I suppose slow heating would be much less 'sooty'. Would still be very hard/impossible to do with large systems though.
(it also makes a decent shield for high speed neutrons for when I'm older and crazier and start work on that Farnsworth reactor ;-))
Now there's a well worn garden path, with some amusing twists.
Here's a quote from Richard Hull, owner of
http://www.fusor.net"There is absolutely no posibility of ever making a fusion generating reactor here using any scientifc methodology and amateur funding." (sic)
Heh. Saved for future value.
Coupling it to a CCD sensor sounds like a good idea! Did you try any fast single shot captures yet?
No, not yet. Ironically, I've got my mainframe working but repairing the 7A29 modules I have is still on my todo list. I've gotten as fas as buying the Tek camera mount I'm going to retrofit but that's all; I don't anticipate too much trouble, the only thing requiring real work will be rigging up the circuit to trigger it at the right time.
Assuming the image capture time of the CCD can be faster than the decay time of the 7104 tube phosphor. Which I have no idea what that is.
A tinkerer after my own heart, guess what 20Ghz sampling scope I have too ;-). I've been drooling over the 50Ghz test set, but I cant justify paying $2000 for one (which is the best price I've seen so far), I don't really need it and imagine my joy if the thing turned out to be fried.
Have you looked at HP 83480 lightwave modular scopes? I haven't tried buying a system yet, but it looks like with lucky deals you could get a very cool set for well under $2000.
For my use, the bonus would be getting optical sampling in the 10s of GHz too.
ebay search: (83480a,83481a,83485b,83486a,11898a,83487a) -cd
Oh yeah, and F*CK ebay for their latest insane revision of searching. Goodbye 'saved searches', welcome our new 'followed searches' overlords, in which there is no way at all of avoiding your 'followed searches' cluttering your ebay landing page with hundreds of unwanted 'Feed' photos. Good job ebay management, you pack of retards. Why don't you all go get a job at Facebook?