Experimental Control

Detector Controller Card

• Overload protection of detectors in conjunction with bh HFAC-26 preamps
• Full operation of Hamamatsu H7422 modules
• High-voltage control for Hamamatsu R3809U MCP via FuG power supplies
• High current digital outputs for shutter and filter control
• +12V, +5V and -5V power supply for preamps and detectors
• PCI & PCIe card, software for Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP
• Works with any bh photon counting card

Digital Delay Generator

• Trigger – Input
• Synchronous Reference Output
• 6 Delayed Output Channels
• Delay resolution 1.25 ns
• Pulse width (Signal) from 10 ns to 5.2 ms
• Maximum Cycle time 42.9 s
• Outputs TTL- / CMOS compatible
• PCI card, software for Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP
• Works with any bh photon counting card

Galvano & Stage Controller

• Waveform generator for X and Y galvano mirrors
• Differential output voltage X+/X- , Y+/Y-
• Maximum output range +/- 10V
• Scan signal generation for SPC-830, SPC-140, or SPC-150
• Laser control for all BDL lasers from bh
• PCI & PCIe card, software for Windows 10/ 8 / 7 / Vista / XP

USB-Controlled Delay Switch Box

• Delay from 0 to 31.5 ns in 0.5 ns steps
• Transmits any signal waveform
• Signal Bandwidth 1 GHz
• No noise, no jitter
• No external power supply needed
• Settings persist when box is disconnected from USB
• Easy adjustment of TCSPC SYNC path length
• Control integrated in bh ‘SPCM’ TCSPC operating software

The purpose of this photon spinner is to avoid counting loss at high counting rates.

At normal acquisition of TCSPC electronics each photon count will induce a dead time. During this period no additional photon can be detected.

The photon spinner distributes photon signals from the detector in to up to four cards. After recording one photon the spinner will switch over to the next card.

This procedure reduces the dead time of the TCSPC electronics a lot. As a result, we can handle very high photon count rates without any notable losses and without losing our high time resolution, i.e. our timing jitter is still 3 ps RMS with SPC-150N cards. Thus, with 3 ps RMS timing jitter we can handle 16 MHz of sustained photon counting rate on a single detector, even peak rates of 30 MHz. Patent pending.