We have developed a powerful yet inexpensive and easy to construct experiment control system. The construction of the system together with the control software is described here. All circuits and software are free to download and use for nonprofit. The system was developed for the BEC (Bose-Einstein condensation) experiments in the group of Mark Raizen at the University of Texas at Austin and is based on a system that one of the authors developed previously for experiments at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. The hardware here includes a design for analog outputs (16-bit DACs) and digital outputs on a general purpose parallel bus which is easy to expand upon and interface with a variety of devices (i.e. DDS devices, microprocessors, etc).
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The hardware outputs are laboratory friendly with BNC-type outputs and line drive capacity. The software is intended for cold atom experiments and contains the code to talk with the hardware developed here. This system represents a simple to understand and cost effective method to control laboratory experiments. Here, we show an overview of the hardware implementation that we currently use. This setup involves an NI6533 card from National Instruments for allowing the computer to talk to the output hardware. The manual below suggests other (cheaper, cooler) methods to do this which we have not used since we already had the NI card.
The experiment control system (15MB) (Rubidium experiment version) (Natrium experiment version (15MB)) (Clean version to start with (15MB)) for download here was devised for the Rubidium and Natrium Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) experiments in the group of Mark Raizen, but can easily be adapted to many other cold atom experiments. It is a completely rewritten and improved version of the control programs used in the Lithium and Helium experiments of the ENS group in Paris. The design objective is to give the user a simple but very powerful programming interface to implement the sequence of a BEC type experiment. The program is written in Visual C++. The program communicates with a data acquisition computer, running the latest version of the data acquisition program "Vision", over TCP/IP. This...
This project fits more for custom made battery casing that can have more space to hide things inside. This switch with few alterations can be used for any other project as well but is designed based on e-bike needs! This project use a clever functionality of....
The circuit described here uses ultrasonic oscillations and operates based on the propagation velocity of these oscillations in the air. Thus, we can easily determine the distance of two points if the time within which the wave travels this distance is....
Sometimes the precious metals are hidden too deep and are not detected except with complicated devices. In many cases, however, small pieces of precious metal buried near the surface can be detected by relatively simple means. Everyone is very attractive to....
Many times for various reasons we forget or can not water the plants that we have in our homes. And many humidity sensors units just notify us with a beeping sound or with a flashing light, that the pot needs watering. But what if we are away from home? This....
The principle behind a metal detector is really very simple. Proof of this is the circuit that follows, in which it proves that the construction of a metal detector can be done in the minute, with few components that we find very easily everywhere. With the....
The sub-harmonic bass generator is a sound producing unit for guitars. The sound it produces looks very much like that of the bass guitar. The octave generator is sometimes quite unusual since it does not produce any of the usual ways of coloring the sound,....
In the past the sounding (sea bottom measurement) was done with the "bullet", that is, with a heavy lead object that the seamen plucked into the sea hung from a calibrated rope. As soon as the "bullet" reached the bottom, the depth appeared directly from the....
This Amplifier was designed to have the following specifications: Distortion less than 0.1% at full power of 100W even at 20KHz. Power has to be attributed to an extended bandwidth. The output transistors must be protected against short circuits. The power....
A series of LEDs serve to alert the gardener when plants need water. Using two conventional digital integrated LEDs and a series of LEDs, we make a very useful device for gardening. The device detects the amount of water in the pot and alerts the grower.....
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