5 PICOSCALE HARDWARE
Figure 5.2: (top) Front side of the
PICO
SCALE
Controller with different connectors for the (A) envi-
ronmental
module, (B) external trigger connector, (C) sensor heads, (D) status LEDs, (E)
pilot laser and (F) power button. (bottom) Back side of the
PICO
SCALE
Controller with
the (1) main power switch, (2) power connector (fuse included), (3) ground connector,
(4) GP
I
O and AquadB connector, (5) SmarAct sensor interface, (6) USB slave interface,
(7) SmarAct high-speed sensor interface, (8) USB master interfaces and (9) Ethernet
connector.
Figure 5.2 shows the front and back side of the
PICO
SCALE
Controller. The front side exhibits
inputs for the environmental module (A), external trigger signals (B) and up to three measurement
heads (C). The environmental sensor is connected to the
PICO
SCALE
simply by plugging the mod-
ule connector into the connector at the
PICO
SCALE
housing. Red marks on the connector and
socket indicate the correct orientation.
The external trigger input is a BNC connector with an input range of [0,5] V.
I
nternally, this trigger
input has a pull-up resistor (10 k
Ω
). Thus, the external trigger is always logically high when nothing
is connected to the input.
The optical inputs/outputs for up to three measurement heads are FC/APC connectors.
I
t is impor-
tant, that only FC/APC connectors are used. Since these connectors have an 8
◦
-angled end face,
the orientation is crucial. Thus, the male connectors have keys, while the receptacles have corre-
sponding slots.
I
t is mandatory to clean both, male and female connectors, with an appropriate
fi
ber cleaner (see chapter 6.3 for further information).
The status LED panel (D) o
ff
ers a convenient overview of the system state. At the top, three LEDs
indicate the
channel valid
status. A channel becomes valid after the
PICO
SCALE
sensor head
adjustment and the corresponding automated optimization routines have been successful. At the
bottom, the
fi
rst LED indicates if the system is stable, which means that the wavelength of the
laser is actively stabilized. The
PICO
SCALE
is ready for a measurement, if the desired channels
are valid and the system is stable. The next LED marks, if an active connection to an environmental
30
PicoScale User Manual
