Looking for over 5GS/s real-time, PC based, High-Speed Digitizers boards

[L._Andrzejewski]

Hi,

I am looking for a  PC based High-Speed Digitizer, but can t find any manufacturer over 4GS/s 1Ghz bandwith, have anyone heard of one. I want to monitor a laser pulse using a photodiode, rise time is around 20ps, pulse duration ~200ps, it is in single shot, so no ETS possible. I don t want to use a 50k$ scope for that, don t really understand why almost everyone is stuck at 2GS/s 1Ghz when benchtop scopes are over 50GS/s now....??

I am not sure if the RF analyser series are suited for that...? 

For those looking for the same, here are my best finds:

http://www.ztecinstruments.com/hardware/modular-oscilloscopes/bus/pci/4-gigasample-per-second

http://www.acqiris.com/products/digitizers/8-bit-pci-digitizer-cards/dp1400.html

http://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope-specifications.html

http://www.signatec.com/products/daq_PDA1000_data_acquisition_signal_waveform_digitizer_PCI_board.asp

http://www.gage-applied.com/products/digitizer_pci/8_bit/compuScope_82G.htm

thanks in advance

Lukasz

[Paul_C.]

Hi Lukasz,

The fastest scope that National Instruments sells is at 2GS/s with 1GHz bandwdth.  You can find more information on this card here.  The amount of memory required and the limitations of the PCI bus make boards at those speeds limited in usefulness.  One of the larger perks of PCI based scopes is that they can stream data to a hard drive to acquire for larger amounts of time.  Not to mention the cost is much less than many benchtop scopes.  I imagine you will start to see much more 2GS/s+ scopes as people move towards a faster bus like PCI-e etc.  I did find a scope at Agilent that is rated for 8GS/s.  The link to it is here.  I wish I could help more.  Perhaps that card will meet your needs.

Regards,

Paul C. 

Message Edited by Paul C. on 09-05-2008 10:22 AM

[HSD]

If you are open to PXI (there is a 2 slot card carrier option) then the 5162 covers that IO point.  

PXIe-5162 - NI