Patent ID: 8432153

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring an electrical input signal, comprising: a pulsed optical source; a modulator configured for receiving said pulsed optical source; said modulator configured for modulating segments of a received electrical input signal over said pulsed optical source; a dispersion element configured for receiving said pulsed optical source from said modulator and stretching it in the time domain into a stretched optical source; an optical detector configured for receiving said stretched optical source and converting it into an analog signal; an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured for converting the analog signal into a digital signal; a processing device configured for receiving said digital signal; and programming executable on said processing device for assembling said digital signal into a desired format of representation for said input signal; whereby said apparatus captures segments of said input signal in real-time and provides representation of fast repetitive signals and non-repetitive dynamics associated with said input signal.