This thesis deals with the instruments and techniques used to characterise the transverse phase space distribution of high-brightness electron beams. In particular, methods are considered allowing to measure the emittance as a function of the longitudinal coordinate within the bunch (slice emittance) with a resolution in the ps to sub-ps range. The main objective of this work is the analysis of techniques applicable for the time-resolved phase space characterisation for future high-brightness electron beam sources and single-pass accelerators based on these.