What is a pulse generator and how does it work?

A pulse generator is a test instrument that creates electrical pulses — short bursts of voltage or current — with precisely controlled characteristics. These pulses are used to stimulate, test, or synchronize electronic circuits and systems. A pulse generator outputs a signal that alternates between two voltage levels (usually high and low), forming a rectangular waveform. You can control key parameters such as: pulse width (how long the pulse stays high) repetition rate or frequency (how often the pulse repeats) rise and fall times (how quickly the signal transitions) amplitude and offset (the voltage level of the pulse) triggering (when the pulse starts—manually, automatically, or externally)

Why is low intrinsic jitter important in a pulse generator?

Low intrinsic jitter in a pulse generator is crucial because it ensures precise and repeatable timing of each output pulse. Jitter refers to the small, unwanted variations in the timing of a signal’s rising or falling edges — and when it’s too high, it can introduce significant errors in time-sensitive systems. A pulse generator with low intrinsic jitter ensures: accurate timing tests reliable high-speed system testing repeatability and consistency clean triggering for other instruments

What are the key applications for a pulse generator?

A pulse generator is used to create electrical pulses with precise timing, amplitude, and duration. These signals are critical for testing and stimulating digital systems, timing circuits, and power electronics. Here are the most common applications: digital circuit testing timing and delay characterization triggering and synchronization power electronics testing device stress and reliability testing

Pulse Generators

Detailed insight into your system's signal integrity

Keysight PW1-class Pulse Generators include the 81100A Series. They deliver high-speed pulse signals with picosecond-level timing precision and low signal distortion. They provide finely controlled pulse and pattern signals with extremely fast edge transitions, low intrinsic jitter, and programmable voltage levels, making them well-suited for generating clock, trigger, and data signals in high-speed digital and mixed-signal test environments. With flexible triggering, enhanced timing control, and remote programmability, they can emulate real-world signal conditions and enable you to perform timing margin analysis. Choose one of our popular configurations or configure one specific to your application.

Pulse signal generation

Generate highly accurate and configurable pulse signals with controlled timing, amplitude, and edge transitions, essential for testing the performance and timing of digital and mixed-signal devices.

Low intrinsic jitter

Minimize measurement uncertainty with jitter as low as a few picoseconds, enabling accurate characterization of timing-critical components such as high-speed serial links and clock circuits.

Flexible triggering

Supports internal and external trigger sources, manual triggering, gated mode, burst mode, and programmable trigger delay to accurately reproduce real-world signal conditions.

Remote programmability

Standard interfaces like USB, LAN, and GPIB, used with SCPI commands allow remote control and enable integration into automated test systems — essential for high-throughput testing.