[time-nuts] High rate, high precision/accuracy time interval counter methods

[Ilia Platone]

For the sensor timestamping you can try replicate an avalanche effect 
with a device which uses a pn-pn substrate configuration ... or 
something similar to the avalanche photodiodes.
The avalanche photodiode has very high gain and a response time of some 
ps (5ps a commercial APD).
This system may cause some effects like high noise and would need high 
breakdown voltages however.
The spurious capacitances can be minimized because in APDs it depends on 
the sensor area, which is not needed in your case.
Regards,
Ilia.

On 05/03/16 12:31, Attila Kinali wrote:
> Hi,
>
> We had here a discussion about measuring events (ie time stamping
> them precisely) with high rates. As some of you know, Javier and
> his group, Bruce and me are working on a system that should give
> us something better than 10ps (my guess is that we should get close
> to 1ps) at a rate of (guestimated) 1MHz per channel. (Based on the
> excitation of a LC tank and measuring the ring-down/phase with an ADC).
>
> As it is with researches, we want the moon, and prossible even more.
> So we were talking about getting the measurement rate up even higher,
> to 10MHz and if possible 50MHz with the same precision. The above
> approche will not work above 1MHz. Using different filters it might
> be possible to get it up to maybe 10MHz, but it would be an awkward
> design at best.
>
> The only methods I am aware of (and could find) that achieve such high
> rates are those, based on (vernier) delay lines (and their equivalent
> ring oscillator ones) in ASICs. But this means that a costly ASIC needs
> to be produced.
>
> Does someone know of other methods that could achieve high measurements
> rates with better than 10ps precision/accuracy? (This question is mostly
> a hypothetical question out of interest, I don't plan to build one...yet :-)
>
> 			Attila Kinali
>

-- 
Ilia Platone
via Ferrara 54
47841
Cattolica (RN), Italy
Cell +39 349 1075999