Table of Contents
Advertisement
Quick Links
Advertisement
Table of Contents
Related Manuals for qutools quTAU
Summary of Contents for qutools quTAU
- Page 1 Manual V4.0 (April 5, 2016)
-
Page 2: Table Of Contents
......13 7.5 Using the quTAU with your own software (Library functions) ..14 8 Input Parameter Settings 8.1 Software Realizations... - Page 3 ........44 www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 3...
-
Page 4: Quickstart Guide
It can already be tested and explored even without a quTAU device due to the integrated demo functionality, see also Figure 1. Figure 1: The quTAU GUI. By using the menu (1), timestamps can be saved to a file, a settings dialog can be opened and additional information can be displayed. The tabs (2) allow access to the different features of the device. -
Page 5: Writing Your Own Program
Figure 2: Block diagram for a program to retrieve and display Single and Coincidence Rates , see example countrate plot.vi Please take note of the information about histogram binning and time tagging in Section 4. www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 5... -
Page 6: Technical Information
3 HARDWARE CONCEPT Technical Information The quTAU is an 8-channel time-to-digital converter with a time bin of 81 ps. The ar- rival time of incoming signals is recorded, pre-processed (count rates are computed) and transferred to a PC via USB2.0 for further analysis. The user can read out raw time tags as well as calculated start-stop histograms. - Page 7 8ch counting 8ch time tags 3 Software Delay (ns) Figure 3: Hardware concept of the quTAU. An ASIC converts the incoming signals into time tags, which are then analyzed by an FPGA and transferred to a PC via USB2.0. www.qutools.com...
-
Page 8: General Information
The internal size of time tags is 56 bit. Therefore, they will overflow after (2 1) 81 ps = 5836665.12 s = 67.55 d. Software Packages The latest drivers, firmware and software can always be downloaded from our website: www.qutools.com/download/list.php www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 8... -
Page 9: Linux Support
Linux, please contact us directly. Windows Installation Supply power to the quTAU device via a cattle plug, connect it to a PC using a USB2.0 cable and switch it on. Use the provided installer and follow the instructions to install all necessary com- ponents. - Page 10 6. Close the firmware update utility. 7. Turn the quTAU device off (and possibly on again). If you don’t do this, the old firmware will still be in effect until the next restart.
-
Page 11: Software
Concept The quTAU software concept is depicted in Figure 6. The device is connected via USB2.0, so the first piece of software handling it on the PC side is the USB device driver. The device driver then talks to directly to one (!) of the client programs, so either to the daisy GUI client or to the user DLL. -
Page 12: Daisy
Figure 7: The opening screen of the Daisy GUI. Different tasks can be accessed by the different tabs at the top. Please note that this window will display additional options for upgraded quTAU devices, so the appearance varies depending on the used device. www.qutools.com... -
Page 13: Qutau Gui
Figure 8: The opening screen of the quTAU GUI. By using the menu (1), timestamps can be saved to a file, a settings dialog can be opened and additional information can be displayed. -
Page 14: Using The Qutau With Your Own Software (Library Functions)
The DLL tdcbase.dll is provided by qutools GmbH to enable customers to use the time to digital converter quTAU in their own software projects. It is available for MS Windows as well as for Linux and in versions for 32 bit and 64 bit architectures. You can download the latest version from the qutools homepage. - Page 15 7.5.3 Device Initialization In order to communicate with the quTAU device, the DLL has first to be initialized using TDC init. In case the device is not found or available, the init function returns the error code ”2”: ”No connection was established”. Nevertheless, the DLL will still be initialized in DEMO mode.
- Page 16 TDC deInit () Additional functions related to the device DE-initialization: tdchbt.h: void TDC releaseHbtFunction (TDC HbtFunction fct) tdclifetime.h: void TDC releaseLftFunction (TDC LftFunction fct) Table 3: Examples: Device Deinitialization LabView Example /userlib/labviewXX/examples/demo mode.vi C Example www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 16...
-
Page 17: Input Parameter Settings
It affects all histograms, though. Please note that these settings are saved in the device and therefore persistent over the different software realizations. A restart of the device, however, will reset all settings to the default state. www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 17... -
Page 18: Software Realizations
8 INPUT PARAMETER SETTINGS Software Realizations Input parameters can be set in the Daisy GUI as well as in the quTAU GUI. There are some presets available in both cases, to quickly change all parameters to commonly used values. 8.1.1 Daisy All settings can be accessed in the ”Detector Parameters”... - Page 19 TDC getSyncDivider (Int32 divider, Bln32 reconstruct) TDC enableChannels (Int32 channelMask) TDC setChannelDelays (const Int32 delays) TDC getChannelDelays (Int32 delays) TDC switchTermination (Bln32 on) TDC enableTdcInput (Bln32 enable) Figure 11: The input settings dialog of the quTAU GUI. www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 19...
- Page 20 LabView Example /userlib/labviewXX/examples/configure IO.vi C Example /userlib/src/example[1,3,5].c Figure 12: Digital Input configuration, see example configure IO.vi. Please note that the logic level settings are set per channel and the channel delays as a set of eight. www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 20...
-
Page 21: Coincidence) Counting
All single (each channel individually) and some coincidence rates (channel 1 to 4) are directly measured in the quTAU device, leading to 19 values (8 single count rates, 6 two- fold coincidences (1&2, 1&3, 1&4, 2&3, 2&4, 3&4), four three-fold coincidences (1&2&3, 1&2&4, 1&3&4, 2&3&4) and one four-fold coincidence (1&2&3&4)) being transferred to... - Page 22 9 (COINCIDENCE) COUNTING Figure 13: Coincidence Counters Tab of the Daisy. Parameters can be set at the top, data are displayed as a bar plot and additionally as a trend graph for a selected channel. www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 22...
- Page 23 9 (COINCIDENCE) COUNTING Figure 14: Count Rates tab of the quTAU GUI. Data are displayed in the graph on the left hand side, parameters can be set on the right hand side (1). Additionally, all count rates are also displayed numerically besides the plot legend (2).
-
Page 24: Dll Usage
Functions relevant to Single and Coincidence Rates: tdcbase.h: double TDC getTimebase () TDC setCoincidenceWindow (Int32 coincWin) TDC setExposureTime (Int32 expTime) TDC getDeviceParams (Int32 channelMask, Int32 coincWin, Int32 expTime) TDC getDataLost (Bln32 lost) TDC getCoincCounters (Int32 data, Int32 updates) www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 24... -
Page 25: Time Stamping
10 TIME STAMPING Time Stamping The hardware and software allow you to use quTAU/quPSI devices to record time stamps of registered events. 10.1 Writing and loading Time Stamps The time stamps can be saved using different file formats: 10.1.1 Text File (ASCII) The time stamps will be written into a text file. -
Page 26: Software Realizations
10 TIME STAMPING 10.2 Software Realizations Time stamps can be saved using the Daisy GUI, the quTAU GUI or the command line interface. 10.2.1 Daisy The Daisy GUI is only capable of saving the time stamps in text format. You have to select the ”Time Diffs”... -
Page 27: Dll Usage
The different formats are encoded in the enum TDC FileFormat. To enable recording, use the function TDC writeTimestamps with the required format and a valid file name. The recording is terminated when TDC writeTimestamps is called with an empty filename. www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 27... -
Page 28: Retrieving Timestamps As An Array
Functions relevant for Time Stamp File Handling: tdcbase.h: TDC getDataLost (Bln32 lost) TDC setTimestampBufferSize (Int32 size) TDC getTimestampBufferSize (Int32 size) TDC enableTdcInput (Bln32 enable) TDC getLastTimestamps (Bln32 reset, Int64 timestamps, Int8 channels, Int32 valid) www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 28... - Page 29 10 TIME STAMPING Figure 19: Block diagram for retrieving timestamps as an array , see example timestamparray.vi. www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 29...
-
Page 30: Histograms
= 0 for the (A-B) histogram with A B. 11.1.1 Realization in the quTAU GUI Start-Stop Histograms can be easily obtained by the quTAU GUI by switching to the ”Start-Stop Histograms” tab, see Figure 21. Settings can be accessed on the right hand www.qutools.com... - Page 31 11 HISTOGRAMS Figure 21: Tab ”Start-Stop Histograms” of the quTAU GUI. On the left (1), Start and Stop channel can be specified. Additionally, you can change the number of merged HW bins (in order to circumvent the TDC chip problem mentioned in 4.1, choose an even number) and the histogram width.
- Page 32 TDC getHistogramParams (Int32 binWidth, Int32 binCount) TDC clearAllHistograms () TDC getHistogram (Int32 chanA, Int32 chanB, Bln32 reset, Int32 data, Int32 count, Int32 tooSmall, Int32 tooLarge, Int32 eventsA, Int32 eventsB, Int64 expTime) TDC freezeBuffers (Bln32 freeze) www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 32...
- Page 33 11 HISTOGRAMS Figure 22: Block diagram for start-stop histograms, see example start-stop.vi. www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 33...
-
Page 34: Start-Multistop Histograms: Lifetime Measurements
11.2 Start-Multistop Histograms: Lifetime Measurements Please note that this feature is only optional for quTAU devices with the hardware upgrade and part of the software extension quTAU (H+). In contrast to the single-stop histograms discussed above, all STOP events (not only the first one) following a given START event are used to calculate time differences and make... - Page 35 11 HISTOGRAMS Figure 23: Tab ”Lifetime” of the quTAU GUI. On the bottom (1), Start and Stop channel can be specified. Additionally, you can change the number of merged HW bins (in order to circumvent the TDC chip problem mentioned in 4.1) and the histogram width. In order to analyze the obtained data, a fit to one of the three models described above can be...
- Page 36 TDC calcLftModelFct (LFT FctType fctType, const double params, TDC LftFunction fct) TDC generateLftDemo (LFT FctType fctType, const double params, double noiseLv) TDC fitLftHistogram (const TDC LftFunction fct, LFT FctType fit- Type, const double startParams, double fitParams, Int32 iterations) www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 36...
- Page 37 11 HISTOGRAMS www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 37...
-
Page 38: Correlation Measurements: Hbt
STOP-event in the nth bin after a START event in bin 0. Thus, the correlation function will exhibit an exponential decrease instead of a constant. Furthermore, if the used detectors have a dead time τ , i.e. they can’t register www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 38... - Page 39 11.3.4 Realization in the quTAU GUI HBT Measurements can be obtained and analyzed in the quTAU GUI, see Figure 26. For testing purposes or if no device is connected, data can also be simulated (and analyzed normally). Settings can be accessed on the bottom, the retrieved data are shown in the plot at the top.
- Page 40 11 HISTOGRAMS Figure 26: Tab ”HBT” of the quTAU GUI. On the bottom (1), Start and Stop channel can be specified. Additionally, you can change the number of merged HW bins (in order to circumvent the TDC chip problem mentioned in 4.1) and the histogram width. In order to analyze the obtained data, a fit to one of the three models described above (with the...
- Page 41 11 HISTOGRAMS The quTAU software assists in HBT measurements. The work flow can be seen in the LabVIEW example hbt measurement.vi (see Figure 27). The HBT feature is optional, use TDC checkFeatureHbt to check for its availability. Again, the HBT feature has to be enabled explicitly after the histogram parameters have been set.
- Page 42 11 HISTOGRAMS www.qutools.com quTAU/quPSI Manual V4.0 Page 42...
-
Page 43: Simulation And Testing: Demo Mode
For simulation and testing purposes, a demo mode is included. It is automatically accessed by the quTAU GUI when no suitable device is found. For countrate simulation, the simulation happens only in the GUI software, but for lifetime and HBT measurements, the demo mode is also included in the DLL to test the respective analyzing functions of the DLL. -
Page 44: Differences Using A Qupsi
13.1 quTAU GUI When using the quTAU GUI with a quPSI device, please note that external countrates are detected in channel 1 (Sync), 3 and 4, while the internal APDs countrates are displayed in channel 5 and 6, see also Table 12. There is also a fixed sync divider value of 1024 for channel 1.