The Midland Fire Department has strengthened its emergency response capabilities by upgrading its radiation detection technology, giving firefighters faster, more accurate insight during hazardous-material incidents and other emergencies.

With the support of grant funding, the department added the Berkeley Nucleonics SAM 950 handheld radiation detection system. This SAM 950 is designed specifically for first responders, nuclear field analysts, and specialized military and security teams.

According to Lt. Tyler Alden, the new system has become a valuable operational asset.

“It is an asset. It makes our department quicker,” Alden said. “It makes our response to radiation faster.”

Photo by Katy Kildee/Midland Daily News

Bringing Radiation Detection into the Modern Era

The department received the SAM 950 in January and now shares it across stations among trained personnel. While radiation monitoring has long been part of Midland Fire’s mission, the new technology represents a major step forward.

“This equipment brings our radiation detection from the 1960s into modern day,” Alden noted.

With real-time analysis and advanced identification capabilities, responders can quickly determine what type of radiation is present and how to proceed safely.

“It tells us what kind of radiation it is,” Alden explained. “It tells us if it was medical radiation or ill intent.”

Advanced Capabilities in a Handheld Platform

The SAM 950 combines multiple critical tools into one portable system, including:

• Radiation survey meter
• Spectral analysis
• Secondary screening
• Isotope identification and confirmation
• Source location features

These capabilities support hazmat response, medical and industrial monitoring, event security, and port and border enforcement.

By consolidating these functions into a single device, Midland firefighters can respond more efficiently and with greater situational awareness.

Rapid Training and Deployment

Firefighters trained on the SAM 950 were able to learn the system in just one day, allowing the department to deploy it quickly across multiple stations.

This rapid adoption ensures more personnel are prepared to operate the equipment when needed—improving readiness and response times.

Commitment to Safety and Innovation

By investing in modern radiation detection technology, the Midland Fire Department continues to demonstrate its commitment to public safety and operational excellence. The SAM 950 enhances the department’s ability to protect first responders and the community while staying ahead of evolving threats.

Credit
This article is adapted from:
“Midland Fire enhances radiation detection” by Tereasa Nims, Midland Daily News, May 13, 2022
Source: https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Midland-Fire-enhances-radiation-detection-17160177.ph

The post March 4, 2026 – Customer Spotlight: Midland Fire Department Enhances Radiation Detection with SAM 950 appeared first on Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.

Image is AI-generated.

With sweep rates up to 3 THz/s, the system can scan very wide frequency ranges in only milliseconds. Sweeping a 1 GHz band with a 120 kHz RBW achieves roughly a 1.7 ms POI, allowing emissions and short bursts to surface immediately instead of being missed between sweeps. This gives a much clearer picture of switching noise, digital interference, and other intermittent effects.

A major advantage is the ability to run meaningful EMI pre-compliance without a shielded room. Using the Spectral Background Mask block, the analyzer records all ambient RF activity and builds a mask to remove environmental noise. This often drops the ambient spectrum by nearly 20 dB and produces a clean spectrum for DUT measurements, even in noisy environments. Tests can be done at the bench, in a lab, or even in a simple tent setup, which offers far more flexibility than the traditional chamber-only approach.

The V6 also provides a 30 ns probability of intercept in real-time mode, making it possible to capture very short events. Transients from power supplies, processors, and mixed-signal systems appear instantly. With a frequency range from 9 kHz to 140 GHz, the platform supports nearly every modern EMI and wireless application.

The software includes standard EN, CISPR, and FCC limit lines, and additional limits—such as FMC or custom profiles—can be added quickly using the built-in power limit editor. Users can also record and save spectra for documentation, before/after comparisons, reference measurements, or long-term troubleshooting.

A typical EMI setup includes the V6 analyzer, HyperLOG and BicoLOG antennas, a pre-amplifier, an OCXO timebase, and the Spectral Background Mask option, along with a high-performance PC using USB 3.2 and a Ryzen 8-core processor with 64 GB RAM. Optional shielding cubes, tripods, and compass modules help build a more complete workflow. The SPECTRAN V6 provides a much faster and more flexible method for EMI pre-compliance, allowing engineers to troubleshoot quickly, shorten redesign cycles, and work without the limitations of a dedicated chamber.

The post November 18, 2025 – Skip the Chamber: How the SPECTRAN V6 Enables Real-Time EMI Testing Anywhere appeared first on Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.

Exceptional Speed and Resolution

The Model 686 delivers a real-time sampling rate of 20 GS/s and up to 6.5 GHz sine output, all while maintaining a true 14-bit resolution. That level of performance means you can emulate the kind of signals seen in PCIe Gen3, USB 3.0, and other high-speed digital systems. It’s not just fast—it’s clean, giving you low-distortion waveforms that reveal how your devices behave under real-world conditions.

Sharp Transitions and Signal Strengths

Semiconductor testing often requires precise edge transitions and varied voltage levels. With a rise time of just 50 ps and output voltages reaching 5 Vpp, the Model 686 enables both. Whether you’re testing a fast-switching digital circuit or an analog front end, this AWG gives you the signal sharpness and strength to do it properly.

Synchronized Analog and Digital Outputs

Each unit can output up to four analog channels along with 32 digital lines, all running in tight sync. This is especially useful for mixed-signal testing—like running a baseband signal while toggling control lines or injecting parallel data. Everything lines up in time, so your test results are as reliable as your setup.

Room for Complexity

Test scenarios aren’t always simple. Fortunately, the Model 686 gives you 9 GSamples of memory per channel, letting you load extensive waveform data without breaking a sweat. Complex multi-step test sequences, real-world signal captures, or stress patterns—this AWG handles them with ease.

Built to Scale

As your test requirements grow, so can the Model 686. Connect up to four units via its internal synchronization bus and you’re working with 16 analog and 128 digital outputs—without losing timing accuracy. Great for parallel testing or large-scale IC evaluation.

User-Friendly from the Start

The included Simple Rider software is just what it sounds like—simple. It’s touchscreen-ready and designed to make waveform creation and device control intuitive. Whether you’re setting up pulse trains or working on custom digital patterns, the interface won’t slow you down.

Purpose-Built for Semiconductor Work

From high-speed interface simulation to power device characterization, the Model 686 is well suited for semiconductor labs. You can generate PRBS data streams, control voltage ramps, or emulate noisy environments—all with one box. It’s built to handle whatever modern test benches demand.

A Tool That Grows with You

Beyond semiconductors, the Model 686 is also a staple in photonics, aerospace, and RF labs. That versatility makes it a solid investment—not just for today’s needs, but tomorrow’s challenges too.

Final Thoughts

The Model 686 isn’t just another AWG. It’s a tool that’s been engineered to keep up with how fast the semiconductor industry is evolving. For test engineers who need dependable, high-performance signal generation, this instrument checks every box.

The post June 13, 2025 – Why the Model 686 is the Go-To AWG for Semiconductor Testing appeared first on Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.

Whether it’s ICCD/PIV testing, laser triggering/gating, pulse DUTs and pump lasers, radar/sonar simulation, high speed photography, or another intensive application, it is undeniable that the Model 588B has a lot to offer beyond its box-to-lab speed. The 588B boasts 250 ps delay resolution, less than 5 ps RMS jitter, and an accuracy of 1 ns + 0.0001 x delay. It is currently offered as either a 12 or 24 channel unit with USB, RS232, and/or ethernet communications to ensure that operating this unit is smooth and straightforward.

Click the image below to navigate to the BNC YouTube channel and get a peak of what it’ll be like when your Model 588B arrives in the mail.

The post May 29, 2025 – Unboxing the Model 588B appeared first on Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.

In our digital age, sensitive information from financial transactions to classified government data flows through networks at an unprecedented rate. However, conventional encryption methods that rely on mathematical algorithms face an existential threat from quantum computers.

Quantum computers could easily crack these encryption codes when they become powerful enough. This encapsulates the urgency to develop quantum-resistant encryption methods. QKD stands at the forefront of this endeavor.

The laws on quantum mathematics are not only used to protect our communications and data, but also to understand the world around us at an unprecedented level of detail. Light, temperature, pressure, heat, and other things that are imperceptible to more traditional sensors can be measured by quantum sensors. The quantum sensors depend on the constants of nature and their reliability never degrades; they are self-calibrating and their measurements don’t drift off over time like traditional sensors do.

High performance AWGs like the Model 686 are becoming extremely popular in designing and developing these emerging breakthrough technologies.

QKD: Quantum Key Distribution

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is a secure communication method for exchanging encryption keys only known between shared parties. It uses properties found in quantum physics to exchange cryptographic keys in such a way that is provable and guarantees security. QKD enables two parties to produce and share a key that is used to encrypt and decrypt messages. Specifically, QKD is the method of distributing the key between parties.

Key distribution on a conventional scale relies on public key ciphers that use complicated mathematical calculations requiring a prohibited amount of processing power to break. The viability of public key ciphers, however, faces several issues such as the constant implementation of new computing power. In addition, quantum computing will render most of today’s public key encryption strategies unsafe.

QKD is different from conventional key distribution because it uses a quantum system that relies on basic and fundamental laws of nature to protect the data, rather than relying on mathematics.

QKD works by transmitting many light particles or photons over fiber optic cables between parties. Each photon has a random quantum state, and collectively, the photons sent make up a stream of ones and zeros. This stream of ones and zeroes are called qubits, and they are the equivalent of bits in a binary system. When a photon reaches its receiving end it travels through a beam splitter, which forces the photon to randomly take one path or another into a photon collector.

The receiver then responds to the original sender with data regarding the sequence of the photons sent and the sender then compares that with the emitter, which would have sent each photon.

Figure 1: Alice, Bob, and Eve

Figure 2: Alice and Bob transmitting photons

Photons in the wrong beam collector are discarded; what’s left is a specific sequence of bits. This bit sequence can then be used as a key to encrypt data; any errors and data leakage are removed during a phase of error correction and other post-processing steps.

To do this Alice sends photons to Bob. Photons are the smallest part of the light. Since photons are not only particles but also waves, they oscillate. They can oscillate in different directions; when they oscillate in only one direction, they are called polarized.

Polarizing filters enable us to filter photons. Then, for example, only the photons that oscillate up and down can pass through; these are called vertically polarized. Quantum mechanics has even made it possible to send single photons. Alice sends polarized photons to Bob and the light passes through if Bob holds his filter the same way as the photons polarized by Alice.

On the other hand, if he holds his filter crosswise to the direction of the polarization, no photon passes through. This means that each photon can be measured only once.

What happens if Bob turns his filter diagonally just a little bit towards Alice’s polarization direction? Sometimes a photon can pass through the filter and sometimes not; if both polarize diagonally in the same direction, the photons all pass through again. In the case that they polarize in different diagonal directions, the photons no longer pass through Bob’s filter.

Quantum Key Exchange (QKD)

Alice makes notes of the polarization with which she sent the photons off and Bob makes a note of how he held his filter and whether light was received or not. Now the two can talk publicly about how Alice polarized her photons and how Bob held his filter. Everyone can hear this. Whenever one person uses the filter diagonally and the other vertically or transversely – this part gets deleted; from the remaining ones they build their key.

If an attacker (man-in-the-middle) called Eve tries to read along a photon with a polarization filter, she has to send a new photon to Bob afterwards. Eve does not know if she has held the filter correctly: if she doesn’t see any light, she could have held her filter crosswise to Alice’s filter or just slightly differently, but the photon didn’t get through. If she does see light, it could still be because the photon came through with the filter slightly rotated, so she may still have held the filter incorrectly. Eve doesn’t know if holding the filter diagonally was correct or not.

Photons cannot be copied and can only be measured once, so Eve must guess quite often what she sends on to Bob. Alice and Bob only talk later about how they used their filters and which parts they can use for their key.

However, Eve must decide beforehand whether she was correct with diagonal or non-diagonal, but without the public conversation she must guess how to proceed. Thus, Eve often makes mistakes. Bob makes as many mistakes as Eve, but his are simply deleted. Before Alice and Bob build their key they compare individual digits.

They don’t use them for the key afterwards, but if they don’t match they know that someone has been listening, so the quantum encryption is used to agree on a key. Since the method is based on the randomness of quantum mechanics, whether photons can pass through slightly twisted filters or not is considered unbreakable.

Figure 3: Quantum Encryption

Types of QKD

There are many different types of QKD, but two main categories are prepare-and-measure protocols and entanglement-based protocols.

Prepare-and-measure protocols focus on measuring unknown quantum states. They can be used to detect eavesdropping, as well as how much data was potentially intercepted.

Entanglement-based protocols focus on quantum states in which two objects are linked together, forming a combined quantum state. The concept of entanglement means that measurement of one object thereby affects the other. If an eavesdropper accesses a previously trusted node and changes something, the other involved parties will know. By implementing quantum entanglement or quantum superpositions, just the process of trying to observe the photons changes the system, making an intrusion detectable.

It is difficult to implement an ideal infrastructure for QKD. It is perfectly secure in theory, but in practice, imperfections in tools such as single photon detectors create security vulnerabilities. It is important to keep security analysis in mind.

Modern fiber optic cables are typically limited in how far they can carry a photon. The range is often upward of 100 km. Some groups and organizations have managed to increase this range for the implementation of QKD. The University of Geneva and Corning Inc. worked together, for example, to construct a system capable of carrying a photon 307 km under ideal conditions.

Another challenge of QKD is it relies on having a classically authenticated channel of communications established. This means that one of the participating users already exchanged a symmetric key in the first place, creating a sufficient level of security. A system can already be made sufficiently secure without QKD through using another advanced encryption standard. As the use of quantum computers becomes more frequent, however, the possibility that an attacker could use quantum computing to crack into current encryption methods rises, making QKD more relevant.

QKD Attack Methods

Even though QKD is secure in theory, imperfect implementations of QKD have the potential to compromise security. Techniques for breaching QKD systems have been discovered in real-life applications. For example, even though the BB84 protocol should be secure, there is currently no way to perfectly implement it. The phase remapping attack was devised to create a backdoor for eavesdroppers. The attack takes advantage of the fact that one party member must allow signals to enter and exit their device. This process takes advantage of methods used widely in many commercial QKD systems.
Another attack method is the photon number splitting attack. In an ideal setting, one user should be able to send one photon at a time to the other user. However, most of the time, additional similar photons are sent. These photons could be intercepted without either party knowing. To combat this type of attack, an improvement to the BB84 protocol was implemented called decoy state QKD. This protocol uses a set of decoy signals mixed in with the intended BB84 signal while enabling both parties to detect if an eavesdropper is listening.

QKD Implementation Methods

There are two different approaches to implement QKD: one focuses on discrete variables (DV-QKD) and relies on single photons with encoded random data. The other one plays on the wave nature of light with information encoded in the quadrature of its electromagnetic fields – continuous variables (CV-QKD). Coherent homodyne or heterodyne detection is used to continuously retrieve the quadrature value of the signal to read the key into it.

In the market there are different modulation solutions for the transmitter side of the communication (Alice) and for the receiver side (Bob) optical hybrid demodulators can be used. One of the most technologically advanced intensity modulators is the Exail NIR-MX800: the intrinsic and unparalleled benefits of LiNbO3 modulation offers high bandwidth, high contrast and ease of use.

Figure 4: Electro-optic modulator

The Model 686 and Model 685 series allow controlling directly to those kinds of Electro-Optic Modulators and to generate very short optical pulses. The unique features of generating pulse with 50 ps rise/fall time, 100 ps pulse width and 5Vpp amplitude offers the solution of driving the EOM without using an external amplifier.

Figure 5: BNC Model 686

Figure 6: Short optical pulse generation with the Model 686

The diagram above represents a typical connection to the Model 686 with a first modulation block used to generate short optical pulses. For example, using Exail’s NIR-MX800 and the BNC Model 686, very short optical pulses width from 100 ps can be achieved at 850 nm, 1310 nm and 1550 nm respectively. It is important to note that in the connection diagram between the Model 686 and the Intensity Modulator, an external amplifier is not used. This is because the Model 686 can generate very narrow pulses of 100 ps width at full amplitude 5Vpp like in the pictures below.

Figure 7: 50 ns rise time @ 5 Vpp

Figure 8: 100 ns pulse width @ 5 Vpp

Quantum Sensors

Quantum sensors allow us to understand the world around us at an unprecedented level of detail: their advanced sensor technology vastly improves the accuracy of how we measure, navigate, study, explore, see, and interact with the world around us by sensing changes in motion, and electric and magnetic fields. The data is collected at the atomic level. Collecting these “delicate” data at the atomic level often means extracting information from individual atoms instead of from the huge collections of atoms, as happens in classical physics.

Figure 9: classical and quantum sensors

This allows quantum sensors to make our technological devices exponentially more accurate, more thorough, more efficient, and more productive. Another great benefit is that devices that use quantum sensing are not subject to the same physical constraints as conventional sensors. This allows for exceptional reliability with less vulnerability to the signal jamming and other electromagnetic interference that is increasingly common with today’s light- and sound-based data sensors.

Since quantum sensing measures activity in the physical world using atomic properties, they can be of great use in the following applications:

• Faster, more accurate, and more reliable geolocation than is possible with today’s satellite-dependent global positioning system (GPS) devices, with far fewer limitations
• Providing doctors with more detailed and accurate medical diagnostic images at lower cost and with fewer potential side effects for patients
• Better, safer autonomous navigation of vehicles on the ground, in the air, and at sea – even in high traffic areas and around unexpected obstacles
• More accurate and less vulnerable guidance systems in space, under water, and in the increasing number of zones overwhelmed by radio-frequency (RF) signals
• Reliable detection, imaging, and mapping of underground environments from transit tunnels, sewers, and water pipes to ancient ruins, mines, and subterranean habitats
• Deeper, more active sensing of gravitational changes and tectonic shifts that can forewarn or trigger avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, or climate change activities

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

MRI quantum sensors have been around for decades. For example, MRI machines use quantum sensors and have been around since the 1970s. Inside one of these machines the very atoms in your body are turned into individual quantum sensors.

MRIs use magnetic fields to manipulate a quantum property called spin within your body’s atoms, and the response of those spins to the magnetic field can be measured and transformed into an image.

Figure 10: MRI machine

Atomic clocks are another kind of quantum sensor and have been around since the 1950s. They keep time in GPS satellites and even define the official SI Atomic Clock unit of a second, but things have changed since then.

Modern innovations are making new quantum sensors and applications possible: one of these newer technologies makes use of nitrogen vacancy centers, or NV centers, which can be found or fabricated within diamonds.

Pure diamond consists of a perfect lattice of carbon atoms. If two of those adjacent carbons are removed and one is replaced with a nitrogen atom, then the nitrogen together with the hold or vacant spot function as an incredibly sensitive magnetometer.

Figure 11: Magnetometer

That magnetometer uses electron spin to detect tiny changes in magnetic fields. In fact, NV centers are sensitive enough to detect changes that are 50 million times smaller than the strength of Earth’s magnetic field. And even more impressive is that they can accurately detect those tiny changes despite the presence of the Earth’s magnetic field in the background.

A diamond is a collection of carbon atoms, each bonded to four other carbons to form an orderly crystalline array. But sometimes there’s a glitch in the matrix: a stray atom of another element finds its way in, or a carbon atom is missing which leaves an empty space. These defects cause a diamond to sparkle in different hues and are called color centers.

Figure 12: nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond

One particularly interesting defect occurs when a carbon in the crystal is replaced by a nitrogen atom, and the adjacent carbon is missing. This defect is known as a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center and has its own quantum spin, which can be thought of as a rotating magnet. Diamonds are mostly made of spin-neutral carbon-12 atoms, so the NV center’s spin is unaffected by that of its immediate neighbors. Since the diamond matrix is so stiff, the atoms don’t jostle enough at room temperature to nudge the spin into a different state.

The spin can be altered, however, by electromagnetic radiation or a magnetic field — a property that enables diamonds with NV centers to be used as sensors. The NV center is also photoluminescent: when lit with green light it will emit a red glow. Because the spin state of the NV center determines how strongly the diamond fluoresces, scientists can use changes in brightness to monitor changes in the center’s spin state due to microwaves or a magnetic field. By examining which frequencies cause changes in the light, researchers can even use the diamond to measure the strength of a magnetic field. This technique is called optically detected magnetic resonance.

The BNC Model 686 has been used to control the experimental pulses’ sequences used to manipulate single tin vacancy centers in diamond.
The AWG-7000 allows generating narrow electrical square pulses with high amplitude up to 5Vpp to control an electro-optical amplitude modulator in order to generate short laser pulses.

Using this mechanism, it is possible to generate optical pulses with a close to Gaussian shape exhibiting a full-width-half-maximum as narrow as 130ps.

Furthermore, the Model 686 can be used to drive an electro-optical phase modulator for generation of frequency sidebands up to about 7GHz, enabling driving of two optical transitions with phase-stable laser fields.

Figure 13: Gaussian pulse

The digital output channels of the BNC 686 allow control of acousto-optical amplitude modulators or they are used to generate trigger pulses for timing of experimental sequences.

In the future, it will be necessary for the real time control of the measurement protocols depending on the outcome of a certain readout within the sequence.

Figure 14: true-arb UI

Figure 15: narrow Guassian pulse with Model 686 series

The post May 21, 2025 – Model 686 Application Note: AWGs for QKD & Quantum Sensors appeared first on Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.

Accelerators

Magnet power supplies statistically provide the best current stability and lowest ripple. When it comes to the applications listed above, these qualities are non-negotiable. In accelerator applications, magnets are used for guiding and focusing the beam. This is a massive role to play, whether the type of magnets are dipole, quadrupole, steerer magnets, or another. The currents for the magnets are powered by these particular DC power supply units that provide the necessary optimum precision. This is where our units come into play.

The Heinzinger-BNC MPS Series more than meets the maximum precision requirements to ensure control accuracy and long-term stability. The units within the MPS series not only offer up to 0.001% precision, but the user can also fine tune the combination of current and voltage to make certain that the power supply meets load requirements. Flexibility is the highest priority and the MPS units combined this with a slim and cost-optimized design. These benefits of these traits are felt beyond direct impacts upon the application to effect the wider scale of an entire operation.

High Efficiency, Low Operating Costs

The merit of efficiency cannot be overlooked when large unit quantities can lead to a significant reduction in operating costs, and the MPS series was designed to be efficient. The power supplies in this series offer over 90% efficiency and are designed to be connected in parallel as smoothly as possible. Not only does this demonstrate efficiency, but it demonstrates the unique ability of the MPS units to flex with the industry progression. No matter the changes within the industry, the MPS is here to stay. Yet now that its superb ability to function within small or large operations has been explained, it’s time to take a look at the finer details of the MPS: user operation.

Permanent Operation

There’s more to it than just meeting the highest requirements for current accuracy and controllability: the Heinzinger-BNC magnet power supplies feature a striking combination of superb power density with the utmost precision. This ensures that compliance with specified data is a guarantee no matter the length of the operation nor the intensity of its demands, whether the application is medical engineering, basic research, or any other that relies on magnet power supplies to see projects through.

Local and Remote Operation

In numerous industries and applications, it is imperative that units can connect to existing systems. Given the standard ethernet interface and abundant operating options that the Heinzinger-BNC MPS series offers, this connection is made easy for users.

Overview

Magnet power supplies have solidified their role to provide the best current stability and lowest ripple. The Heinzinger-BNC MPS Series was designed to exceed even this impressive feat and also provide the flexibility that professionals need from a unit in an ever-changing environment. No matter the direction of an application, the MPS units are there for the long run.

The post May 8, 2025 – Magnet Power Supplies and All They Bring to the Table appeared first on Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.

In many labs and production environments, traditional RF signal generators take up more space—and budget—than they should. The RFS-1000 Series from Berkeley Nucleonics changes that. It delivers serious performance in a compact form factor, without compromising specs or usability.

What Is It?

The RFS-1000 is a USB-powered RF/Microwave signal generator offering continuous wave (CW) and sweep mode across two wideband options:

• 0.1 – 22 GHz, or
• 0.1 – 42 GHz for extended coverage.

Housed in a rugged, portable aluminum enclosure, it’s a fraction of the size of traditional generators—yet fully capable in the field or on the bench.

Why It Stands Out

Wide Frequency Range
From low-GHz work to mmWave development, the RFS-1000 supports radar simulation, RF component characterization, telecom testing, and more—without the need for multiple instruments.

Adjustable Output up to +15 dBm
Whether you’re driving filters, amplifiers, or mixers, the RFS-1000 delivers ample power with precision control.

Low Phase Noise, Excellent Spectral Purity
Despite its small footprint, the RFS-1000 offers impressive spectral performance, suitable for demanding R&D and manufacturing test environments.

USB-C Powered
One cable. No power bricks. Just plug into your laptop or bench supply and you’re up and running.

Portable and Rugged
Built to travel, this signal generator is ideal for tight test racks, field deployments, or mobile lab kits.

Who Should Use It?

• RF Engineers looking for a powerful, portable test source
• University Labs & Students needing a high-performance, budget-friendly solution
• Startups and Agile Test Teams working on tight timelines and tighter benches
• System Integrators who want reliability without the rack space burden

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re characterizing components, troubleshooting field gear, or building out a compact test setup, the RFS-1000 Series delivers the right combination of performance, portability, and value. It’s proof that small form factor doesn’t mean small capability.

Explore the full specs and request a quote here:
www.berkeleynucleonics.com/rfs-1000-01-42-ghz

The post May 1, 2025 – Serious Performance in a Compact Form Factor appeared first on Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.

Hi there, my name is Cameron Simmons and I am an applications engineer here at Berkeley Nucleonics. Today I am going to do a video about one of our lesser known products – the PVX-2506. It is a hybrid voltage current pulser. We refer to it as a precision voltage pulser and it’s got a lot of cool features that may help your application. Today we’re going to show those off. Enjoy!

The PVX-2506 is what we refer to as a precision pulse generator, because we tune the overshoot and undershoot so that it never exceeds the pulse top and bottom voltage. This can be really good for semiconductor material testing because you know your material is never exposed to a voltage higher than required for your testing. You can get great data on it. The unit can do 50 volts at 10 amps which is extremely high for a voltage pulser of this type, and because of this the PVX-2506 can be used to test a lot of high voltage and high current semiconductor materials. Another great feature is that the 2506 accepts a high voltage power supply and a lower voltage power supply so that you can actually float it up to ten volts and again this can be really good if that is the voltages that you want tested at or if you just want a less noisy signal moving above ground like that will take out some of the noise and help you get cleaner data.

Here I’ll show you the cable that’s included with the 2506. As you can see it’s nice heavy duty connector. Gold pads. Very low inductance. The same thing with this cable can take a lot of voltage but it is also very low inductance so you’re not going to get any added overshoot and zero ringing, which makes this overall a very good cable for this application.

An interesting feature of the PVX-2506 is that it has sort of a utility section here that will help you invert and copy your trigger signal so you can take one trigger in from your source and instead put it in the RF logic input. Then you’ll get a TTL copy of that signal and an inverted TTL version of this signal. This will trigger RF as well. So you can put a sinusoidal wave form in and it will create a square trigger signal. Then perhaps you want to trigger your oscilloscope to this one to see other aspects of the signal; you can take the inverted RF out and then have that be your trigger signal for the output of the unit itself and then you can switch those two around. This makes testing and collecting data easier without having to have an external box that does this.

Here we can see the output of the voltage pulser on the oscilloscope. It’s a nice clean 30 volt pulse going into our 5 ohm load. No aberrations, no overshoots, very square pulse, low noise as well. Then we’ll go ahead and zoom in on the rising edge and you can see the overshoot tuning at work; you can see by the curser there that it’s right on the pulse top. The time scale is about 25 nanoseconds so there is probably about 10 to 20 nanoseconds of oscillation on the rising edge to get that nice fast rising edge. But you can see that the top never exceeds the actual pulse top, which means that it’s really a finely tuned rising edge and falling edge. The falling edge is the same thing – it never exceeds ground and you can get some very clean data with this.

The output of the PVX-2506 is floating and it actually has two voltage inputs. The good thing about that is you can bias it up just to reject noise if that’s the voltage that your experiment calls for. Here, I am at about 30 volts to ground and I’m going to engage the second power supply and bias it up about 10 volts. That’s what that looks like here! There you have it – the features of the PVX-2506.

The post April 25, 2025 – The PVX-2506: It’s a Voltage Source, It’s a Current Source, It’s Everything! appeared first on Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.

The PCX-7500-EX is most suitable for driving laser diodes, bars, and arrays. It has voltage drops that are up to 110V, output power up to 1000W, an adjustable pulse width between 4 µs to 5,000 µs, and its settable output current ranges from 10A to 450A.

Let’s talk about the external DC power supply. The use of an external power supply to source the laser diode forward voltage has a host of advantages. Perhaps the most notable bonus is the unit’s ability to source a variety of laser diodes at full output from a single device to a 110 volt diode array. This can be done by matching the DC supply to the diode’s forward voltage. Talk about a pliable tool to have in the arsenal!

A bonus feature for a good product is a well designed chassis: the PCX-7500-EX has conveniently located front panel BNC connectors that allow it to be externally triggered and synchronized for specialized interconnected equipment applications. Other remarkable specifications include the following: the input impedance of the trigger is selectable to either 50Ω or 10,000Ω; the synchronization output pulse is synchronized to the leading edge of the output current pulse and is active with internal or external trigger.

Interested in learning more? Visit the product page linked [here] or contact us [here] for more information. Alternatively, go ahead and try out the chat feature on the BNC site itself to speak with an engineer or sales person in real-time!

The post April 16, 2025 – A Competitive High Power Current Source: The PCX-7500-EX appeared first on Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.

ECPD – 6th European Conference on Plasma Diagnostics

BNC’s regional sales manager in Europe, Roberto Foddis, had the pleasure of attending ECPD 2025 with BNC’s partner SI Scientific Instruments. Not only was the conference located at the Czech Academy of Sciences in the beautiful city of Prague, but Roberto was able to further nurture connections within the industry as well as show off our vast array of test and measurement equipment. It is always our gain to be able to glean from the wealth of knowledge that scientists and engineers bring to the table with applications varying from magnetic confinement fusion, beam plasmas, astrophysical plasmas, and much more.

CBSOA – California Boating Safety Officers Association

No matter the year or location, Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation always counts down the days to attend this incredible event. As predicted, this year’s CBSOA had the most vivacious attendees from familiar faces to new contacts that never fail to offer intriguing conversations around BNC’s lineup of radiation safety equipment.

The post April 11, 2025 – Week Recap: Conferences Across the Globe appeared first on Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.