Agilent’s oscilloscopes show record interface rate

A joint team from Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs and Agilent Technologies conducted experiments using Infiniium 90000 Q-Series oscilloscopes to transmit data over long-haul distances at a record interface rate.

The experiments relied on advanced detection systems and data analysis from Alcatel-Lucent and on the measurement performance of the Infiniium 90000 Q-Series oscilloscopes to achieve PDM 16 QAM 1.28 terabit dual-carrier optical signalling.

The joint team synchronised two 63 GHz oscilloscopes and used them as 4x analog-to-digital converters running at 160 GSa/s. The bandwidth combined with the measurement accuracy of the scopes enabled the experiments’ success.

In addition to the 63 GHz, enabled by RealEdge technology, the oscilloscopes feature a high effective number of bits (ENOB) at more than 5.5 at 33 GHz and a low interscope skew of less than 0.5 ps (standard deviation).