Work

A flexible system-on-a-chip control hardware for atomic, molecular, and optical physics experiments

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: We have implemented a control system core for experiments in atomic, molecular, and optical physics based on a commercial low-cost board, featuring a field-programmable gate array as part of a system-on-a-chip on which a Linux operating system is running. The board features Gigabit Ethernet, allowing for fast data transmission and operation of remote experimental systems. A single board can control a set of devices generating digital, analog, and radio frequency signals with precise timing given either by an external or internal clock. Contiguous output and input sampling rates of up to 40 MHz are achievable. Several boards can run synchronously with a timing error approaching 1 ns. For this purpose, a novel auto-synchronization scheme is demonstrated, with possible application in complex distributed experimental setups with demanding timing requests.

Source: Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI: 10.1063/5.0058986

Authors: A. Trenkwalder, M. Zaccanti, N. Poli

Institutions: European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, National Institute of Optics, National Research Council, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Firenze, University of Florence

Language: English

Topic: Embedded Systems and FPGA Design

Subfield: Control and Systems Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca, H2020 European Research Council

Awards: G174381028, G2033262336, G2059067444, G3192002918