A transient recorder circuit for subnanosecond signals from solid state strip detectors

The architecture of a transient recorder circuit designed for storing fast signal profiles delivered by silicon or gallium arsenide detectors is described. The sampling step may be adjusted from a minimum time interval of 25 ps up to several nanoseconds. The transient recorder has a bandwidth of 500 MHz and samples 8 points of the signal profile. An important useful characteristic of the transient recorder is that the 8 points of the sampled signal may be set at unequal, arbitrary time intervals. Common, fast waveforms from an electronic pulser have been used in the performance evaluation of a transient recorder circuit by comparing input and output signal profiles. The synchronization time of two transient recorders is 20 ps and worsens as the sampling step size increases.