We present an optical sampling technique that enables exploration of mismatches of a microstrip transmission line based on reflection analyses of electromagnetic pulses. The external electro-optic sampling scheme with a minute crystal detects high-speed electrical pulses over arbitrary locations of a line with very low-intrusiveness. The temporal pulsed signals measured with an on-wafer optical probing system and the corresponding spectra are obtained to analyze the transfer characteristics of a microstrip transmission line with 20 GHz bandwidth. The spectro-temporal response was cross-checked with commercial instruments. Applications of this optical probing technique to explore mismatches at the terminal port - based on both time and frequency domain reflectometry analyses - are also presented.
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