The end is near. LeCroy and their 100GHz scope...

[rsjsouza]

EDN article

I really did not know LeCroy was there yet...

If Dave ever has one for evaluation and teardown, I wonder if there will be a sticker inside: "WARNING: continuous exposure to this oscilloscope internals can cause cancer from non-ionizing radiation."

(still remember my astonishment about a 100MSPS oscilloscope in early 90's...)

[CodyShaw]

Boy would it be freaking cool to be on the development team for that bad boy...

Now Dave needs to get his hands on one for a teardown!

[alm]

The novelty is that it's a real-time scope with 100 GHz bandwidth. Lecroy has been offering 100 GHz sampling scopes for a while.

[tinhead]

The novelty is that it's a real-time scope with 100 GHz bandwidth.

right, but they cheating a bit "DBI works by splitting the input signal into multiple frequencies which are downconverted to the bandwidth of the digitizing system. Then it acquires and digitizes each band, using DSP to re-assemble them and compensate for distortion".

[alm]

This has been going on for a while, I think the fast real-time Agilent scopes do the same. They're multiplexing multiple ADCs, somewhat similar to what the cheap 1GS/s scopes (Rigol et al) do, but in the frequency domain instead of the time domain. The main issue is that (automated) calibration takes forever, since everything has to be matched to minimize distortion.

[free_electron]

This has been going on for a while, I think the fast real-time Agilent scopes do the same. They're multiplexing multiple ADCs, somewhat similar to what the cheap 1GS/s scopes (Rigol et al) do, but in the frequency domain instead of the time domain. The main issue is that (automated) calibration takes forever, since everything has to be matched to minimize distortion.

the one i used for the jim williams pulse generator doesn't. the sampler time interleves analog samples ( basically 8 sample/hold amplifiers with differential outputs that are shifted in time) . that feeds into 8 a/d converters.

[alm]

I checked for any sources on Agilent using frequency interleaving, but I couldn't find any. Must have been mistaken on that.

So they poke fun at Lecroy for using frequency domain interleaving while they use time domain interleaving?

[JuanPC]

  LeCroy.

[dr.diesel]

Now Dave needs to get his hands on one for a teardown!

Here is their contact info:

contact.corp@teledynelecroy.com

Let's all email, asking them to send Dave one for a "review", cough, with a screwdriver.

[SArepairman]

they will mail him one thats welded shut if they do send anything at all lol

[xrunner]

How do you couple a 100 GHz signal from a system into a scope without disturbing it (the signal)? I am depending on the more knowledgeable people here to school me.

[EEVblog]

How do you couple a 100 GHz signal from a system into a scope without disturbing it (the signal)? I am depending on the more knowledgeable people here to school me.

You essentially can't. But if you spend a lot of money and have a grey beard, you can get close and will know what the effects and limitations are.

[EEVblog]

Let's all email, asking them to send Dave one for a "review", cough, with a screwdriver.

Surely they have an old prototype front end board lying around? Mailbag please!

[free_electron]

How do you couple a 100 GHz signal from a system into a scope without disturbing it (the signal)? I am depending on the more knowledgeable people here to school me.

You essentially can't. But if you spend a lot of money and have a grey beard, you can get close and will know what the effects and limitations are.

you need one of those bob pease beards... with in-beard-breadboard

[c4757p]

How do you even generate that 100 GHz test signal? Jesus, that's a tenth of a terahertz! DC to daylight indeed...

I swear, at the rate we're going, we'll have scopes that can probe literal daylight by the time I'm 40...

[dfmischler]

I swear, at the rate we're going, we'll have scopes that can probe literal daylight by the time I'm 40...

I don't think so.  Red light (the lowest frequency in the visible spectrum) starts at about 400 THz.  Then again, I'm already older than that.

[xrunner]

I swear, at the rate we're going, we'll have scopes that can probe literal daylight by the time I'm 40...

Well my eyeball can probe daylight and "measure it" - i.e., put it into a visual frame for my brain ... but perhaps what it's seeing is being disturbed by itself and what I see isn't really what's out there - outside my brain. 

OK I'm stopping myself before somebody else does.

[c4757p]

I was kidding!

I still want to know more about how it all works, though. 100 GHz is amazing.

[dr.diesel]

Pretty amazing.  Wonder what type of input connector is on it?  Type N is really only good to about 18Ghz.

[xrunner]

How do you couple a 100 GHz signal from a system into a scope without disturbing it (the signal)? I am depending on the more knowledgeable people here to school me.

You essentially can't. But if you spend a lot of money and have a grey beard, you can get close and will know what the effects and limitations are.

In all seriousness - I can't imagine using it @100GHz unless a circuit board that used 100GHz class signals had dedicated test points built-in, these being some sort of coax connector, that allowed such a piece of test equipment to be connected. Outside of those test points, it seems to me that it would near impossible to "clip on" to a part of a 100GHz circuit and have it operate in any way, shape, or form, like it was intended. But I am not an expert at 100GHz. 

[free_electron]

I swear, at the rate we're going, we'll have scopes that can probe literal daylight by the time I'm 40...

Well my eyeball can probe daylight and "measure it" - i.e., put it into a visual frame for my brain ... but perhaps what it's seeing is being disturbed by itself and what I see isn't really what's out there - outside my brain. 

OK I'm stopping myself before somebody else does.

you mean we carry two ultra high frequency spectrum analyzers around in our head in the form of eyeballs  ? and two low frequency spectrum analyzers in the form of ears ? and our skin can sense infrared ? and we even have a built in signal generator that can do arbitrary signals. it's called a mouth. and its all connected via electrical interfaces to a massive computer and data storage system called a brain.

dammit. why do we need all that complicated testgear then !

[EEVblog]

In all seriousness - I can't imagine using it @100GHz unless a circuit board that used 100GHz class signals had dedicated test points built-in, these being some sort of coax connector, that allowed such a piece of test equipment to be connected. Outside of those test points, it seems to me that it would near impossible to "clip on" to a part of a 100GHz circuit and have it operate in any way, shape, or form, like it was intended. But I am not an expert at 100GHz. 

Yes, it's not this everyday debugging tool where you go around probing your 100GHz circuit to figure out why it's not working. They are designed for characterisation of new systems and technology, or as you say, measurement of circuits with dedicated build in test point for this very purpose. In either case, a lot of thought and engineering would have gone into the on-board probing test points.

[xrunner]

you mean we carry two ultra high frequency spectrum analyzers around in our head in the form of eyeballs  ? and two low frequency spectrum analyzers in the form of ears ? and our skin can sense infrared ? and we even have a built in signal generator that can do arbitrary signals. it's called a mouth. and its all connected via electrical interfaces to a massive computer and data storage system called a brain.

dammit. why do we need all that complicated testgear then !

'cause some people will either not believe what they see, or they will fabricate a story about what they think they see. 

[Bored@Work]

dammit. why do we need all that complicated testgear then !

Because our build-in stuff only handles some small parts of the spectrum. Esp. spectrum mankind has become very interested in, even addicted to.

[nctnico]

How do you couple a 100 GHz signal from a system into a scope without disturbing it (the signal)? I am depending on the more knowledgeable people here to school me.

The prototype usually is a PCB with test connectors (and passive.active on-board signal pick-up) to connect a probe to. When the design has been verified a new PCB is made without the test connectors. Even an on-board passive probe (divider with two resistors and an SMA socket) is useful to several GHz.