A Coherent Subsampling Test System Arrangement Suitable For Phase Domain Measurements

This paper presents a coherent subsampling test system arrangement that can be configured to measure the intrinsic noise and jitter transfer characteristic response of a time-based channel Such as a phase-locked loop using a sampling rate that is established based on the incoming signal bandwidth rather than the highest frequency contained in the measured signal. These test systems are applicable to a wide range of applications from RF to optical communication systems and can be constructed using off-the-shelf components. Experiments conducted on a Teradyne Flex tester are used to validate the proposed subsampling principles.