Neurotechnology Research Systems
Optogenetic Controller
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Begin by using a BNC cable to connect the output marked CH 1 to an oscilloscope. Next, set the
Output Device to Laser and the Voltage Limit to 5000mV. Then click in the box below Manual Mode
to and move the slider to 1000 (mV).
Hint: Fine incremental changes can be made to the slider value using the up and down arrow keys
or the scroll wheel on your mouse.
When you press the start button for channel 1 in the upper left, the output voltage will change to
1V.
Once the channel is running, you can adjust the slider to change the output voltage. The output will
remain at the set voltage until you stop the channel or change the value.
6.5
Starting and Stopping Stimulation
There are two ways to start playing a stimulation pattern: with the host PC through software and
with a hardware digital input. Note that a pulse started from software can be stopped with a digital
input and vice versa. In software, until a pattern for a channel has been defined, the start button in
the top left of the interface is grayed out. As soon as the pattern has been selected, the start button
becomes active. At that point, the channel can be triggered to start. To initialize stimulation from
the software, you can click the start button for the individual channel. Alternatively, the start all
button (to the right of channel 4’s start button) can be clicked and every channel that has been
configured will start at the same time. Once clicked, the start button changes functionality to
become a stop button.
In hardware there are start and stop TTL-compatible digital inputs for each channel. Inputs should
range from 0 – 5 V. Inputs <0.8V are logic “0” and >2.0V are logic “1”. The pinout for the Digital In
connector is shown below.
1
–
S
ta
rt
1
3
–
NC
5
–
S
ta
rt
2
7
–
NC
9
–
S
ta
rt
3
11
–
NC
13
–
St
ar
t 4
15
–
NC
17
–
Gnd
19
–
Gnd
2
– St
op
1
4
– NC
6
– St
op
2
8
– NC
10
– St
op
3
12
– NC
14
– St
op
4
16
– NC
18
– G
nd
20
– G
nd