Volume 64, Number 2, 198-206, DOI: 10.1134/S1990341309020096

The “Quantochron 4-48” facility for registration of random fluxes of multidimensional signals

V. L. Plokhotnichenko, A. V. Solin and A. G. Tikhonov

View Related Documents

Abstract

A facility for the registration of light fluxes meant for the study of their properties with high temporal resolution is described. The “Quantochron 4-48” acquisition facility measures the photon arrival times using periodic signals of three types-second-long period signals (pps), 10-kHz, and 30-MHz signals. The first two come from a GPS, whereas the latter signal comes from the PCI bus of the computer connected to the facility. These time scales are used to produce for each time instant a 28-bit time code supplemented by 48 bits bearing the information about the coordinates, energy, and polarization of the photon at the output of the detector. The sequence of complete 64-bit words is buffered in FIFO memory and sent to computer RAM. The device has as its base element a XILINX SPARTAN XCS40XL PQ240AKP0505 microchip incorporated into a PCI slot. The registration facility consists of two PC servers equipped with these boards and a control computer. The facility determines the photon arrival times to within 30 ns with a dead time of 30 ns and maximum lossless count rate of 106 photons/s. The registration facility allows continuous recording of detector counts over 17 hours with a one microsecond World-Time (UT) calibration accuracy.

PACS numbers  95.55.Sh - 95.75.Wx

Original Russian Text © V.L. Plokhotnichenko, A.V. Solin, A.G. Tikhonov, 2009, published in Astrofizicheskij Byulleten, 2009, Vol. 64, No. 2, pp. 204–212.

Fulltext Preview

Image of the first page of the fulltext document