Optical Delay Line Loop Sampler for Multichannel Very Short Single Shot Transient Signals

40368 Beam Diagnostics Lab, Inc. Existing and proposed particle accelerators used in basic research experiments need to record fast moving particles coming from many directions. This project will develop a multi-channel optical measurement system which provides all observation data to a single oscilloscope. The technique utilizes the wide frequency band of a single mode optical fiber. It uses an optical delay line loop to produce a large number of copies of the pulse or pulse train to be measured, so that it can be digitized with a sampling oscilloscope. Signals from different detectors are fed into the optical ring with different delays to form a long single-shot pulse train, so that one sampling oscilloscope gets all the data. The optical delay line loop sampler can be used as a front end of a sampling oscilloscope to measure transient signals. This technique will make it possible to record transient phenomena with a bandwidth easily up to 20 GHz or higher. Phase I will build and bench test the system. Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications as described by the awardee: This project offers a unique diagnostic instrument for measuring very fast transient signals. This instrument should be of particular interest to the high energy accelerator, linear collider, and laser communication fields.