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74 MicroMAX System User Manual Version 6.C
Standard Timing Modes
Overview
The Princeton Instruments ST-133 Controller has been designed to allow the greatest
possible flexibility when synchronizing data collection with an experiment.
Mode Shutter
Free Run Normal
External Sync Normal
External Sync PreOpen
External Sync with
Continuous Cleans
Normal
External Sync with
Continuous Cleans
PreOpen
The chart to the right lists the timing mode
combinations (selected on the
Experiment
Setup|Timing
tab page). These timing
modes are combined with the Shutter
options to provide the widest variety of
timing modes for precision experiment
synchronization.
The shutter options available include
Norm
al, PreOpen, Disable Opened or
Disable Closed. Disable simply means that
the shutter will not operate during the
experiment. Disable closed is useful for
Table 11. Detector Timing Modes
making dark charge measurements, or when no shutter is present. PreOpen, available in
the External Sync and External Sync with Continuous Cleans modes, opens the shutter as
soon as the ST-133 is ready to receive an External Sync pulse. This is required if the time
between the External Sync pulse and the event is less than a few milliseconds, the time it
takes the shutter to open.
The shutter timing is shown in the timing diagrams that follow. Except for Free Run,
where the m
odes of shutter operation are identical, both Normal and PreOpen lines are
shown in the timing diagrams and flowchart.
The timing diagrams are labeled indicating the exposure tim
e (texp), shutter
compensation time (tc), and readout time (tR). For more information about these
parameters, see the discussion of frame readout, starting on page
60.
Free Run
Shutter opens
Shutter remains open
for preprogrammed
exposure time
System waits while
shutter closes
In the Free Run mode the controller does not synchronize
with the experiment in any way. The shutter opens as soon as
the previous readout is complete, and remains open for the
exposure time, t
exp
. Any External Sync signals are ignored.
This mode is useful for experiments with a constant light
source, such as a CW laser or a DC lamp. Other experiments
that can utilize this mode are high repetition studies, where
the number of shots that occur during a single shutter cycle is
so large that it appears to be continuous illumination.
Other experimental equipment can be synchronized to the
detector by
using the output signal (software-selectable
SHUTTER or NOT SCAN) from the
connector on
the back of the ST-133. Shutter operation and the NOT
SCAN output signal are shown in
Figure 29.
Figure 28. Free Run Timing Chart
(part of the chart in Figure 40)