Performance of High Resolution GS/s Oscilloscopes used for RF Measurements

Oscilloscopes are commonly used devices for fast measurements of the longitudinal beam profile of the accelerators at CERN. Data sheets from manufacturers list key performance figures, however information on how exactly the analog and digital signal treatment is designed inside the device is generally not available. Therefore, the aim of this project is to better understand the oscilloscope using acquired data in a test setup under well defined conditions. This uncovers some of the internal processing and limitations that impact performance and gives guidance to which settings are best used for a particular application. Relevant parameters of the oscilloscopes performance that are studied in this project are the Transfer Function and the Effective Number of Bits. The focus is on the MSO66B Oscilloscope from Tektronix.