Multiplexed signal recovery for ultrafast diagnostics

Data collection from sensors at the National Ignition Facility and other inertial confinement fusion sites are often optically encoded to avoid electrical interference. Recording signals from these sensors requires demanding data collection capabilities. Sensor data has high bandwidth > 1THz); it must be collected from multiple sites around the target chamber for significant temporal durations and must be single-shot. A single system must also be able to completely characterize laser driver pulses at multiple locations, providing the intensity and phase of the laser pulse with sub-picosecond time resolution. This SBIR project will develop a new technology to record the intensity and phase of optical waveforms from sensors, or the intensity and phase of fusion driver laser pulses, with bandwidths greater than 10 THz and time windows spanning more than several nanoseconds. Our technology will be inexpensive and robust, allowing many sensors to be multiplexed into one digitizer system by delaying the waveforms from each sensor while recording data continuously. In Phase I, we will build a breadboard ultrafast signal recovery system and conduct a proof-of- principle demonstration of our new technology using repeating waveforms. Evaluations of the capabilities of our system will be completed along with designs for scaling the system to be capable of the acquisition of single, non-repeating, waveforms. Our improved optical waveform digitizer system will significantly transform the oscilloscope market. Our system will be less expensive, leveraging low cost, commercially available components to provide state-of-the-art bandwidth and recording capabilities at lower cost. Our developments will have applications in technology development and telecommunications.