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S. K. Vargas / International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications
(IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com
Vol. 3, Issue 4, Jul-Aug 2013, pp.1340-1342
1340 | P a g e
A Graphical Program That Eliminates the Out Dated 3.5” Disk
Technology Used By the Stanford Research Multi-Channel
Scaler/Averager
S. K. Vargas
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Virginia Military Institute, USA
ABSTRACT
A graphical program was created, to
simplify the acquisition of data and data
conversion from bin to ASCII, for data obtained
by a Stanford Research Multichannel
Scaler/Averager (SR430). The SR430 receives the
data in the form of pulses from a photomultiplier
tube (PMT). The PMT serves as the detector in a
pulsed laser spectroscopy experiment. The
program was created in LabVIEWTM
which was
developed by National Instruments. LabVIEWTM
allows the user to code programming ideas by
selecting and patterning graphical icons. The
program presented in this paper eliminates the
outdated and clumsy steps of saving the data in
DOS format, on a 720K disk, using the 3.5” drive
of the SR430, and then converting the data from
bin to ASCII, using a DOS program. With this
graphical program the user can save the data
obtained by the SR430 in a spreadsheet ready
format on a computer.
Keywords – LabVIEWTM
, ASCII, PMT, SR430,
Laser Spectroscopy
I. INTRODUCTION
The SR430 is a versatile machine that
provides an efficient means of collecting time-
dependent photon data in laser spectroscopy
experiments. It allows the experimentalist to count
incoming photon pulses in successive time bins sent
from a PMT. The duration of the time bins is
programmable on the SR430 from 5 nanoseconds to
10 microseconds. A trigger starts a record of up to
32,704 time bins. The number of records collected is
also programmable from 1 to 65,535 (or free run).
Each trigger starts a new record and the data is added
to the bin by bin accumulation of all the previous
records [1]. In addition the SR430 offers advanced
functions such as Smoothing, Curve Fitting and
Autoscale. Yet as useful as the SR430 is for
collecting time-resolved photon data, the method for
saving the data on the machine is an outdated 3.5”
disk drive which saves the data in DOS format. After
the data is saved it has to be converted from bin to
ASCII using a DOS program. Fortunately the
SR430 does offer a GPIB interface. The goal of this
project was to use the GPIB interface and
LabVIEWTM
to create a program that would
eliminate the need for the 3.5” disk drive and to save
the data in ASCII format. Saving the data in this
format simplifies the process of transferring it to a
spreadsheet for graphing and analysis purposes.
In section II general information on the laser
spectroscopy experiment in which the SR430 was
used will be discussed. Section III will describe the
timing of the electronics required to operate the
SR430 as a photon counter in the experiment, as well
as, some of the features available on the SR430. In
section IV details of the LabVIEW™ program will be
presented. Lastly section V will provide concluding
remarks and future works.
II. THE LASER SPECTROSCOPY EXPERIMENT
The desire to create an interfacing program
for the SR430 was prompted by its role in a laser
spectroscopy experiment. The experiment was
designed to investigate the energy transfer process
between gadolinium and chromium in chromium
doped gadolinium garnets. The experimental
arrangement for the spectroscopy experiment is
displayed as Fig. 1.
Figure 1 Experimental arrangement for the time
dependent measurements of the sample
fluorescence using the SR430.
The combination of the Nd:YAG laser and
the dye laser served as the excitation source for the
sample. An appropriate wavelength was selected to
excite the gadolinium in the sample [2]. Upon
excitation of the gadolinium, energy was transferred
to the chromium and the resulting chromium
fluorescence signal emitted was collected with a
Hammamatsu R928 red enhanced side-window PMT.
The sample was positioned at an angle of
approximately 45 degrees to the excitation source and
the resulting emission was collected at an angle of 90
degrees to the excitation source. The voltage supply
to the PMT was maintained at 1000 volts. A
combination of neutral density filters and glass color
Nd:YAG Laser Dye Laser
P
M
T
SR430 &Computer
Filters
Sample
S. K. Vargas / International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications
(IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com
Vol. 3, Issue 4, Jul-Aug 2013, pp.1340-1342
1341 | P a g e
filters were taped directly on the PMT window to
select the appropriate wavelength and signal strength
needed to collect the fluorescence emitted by the
sample. In addition, black cloth was used to cover
the entire region between the sample and the detector
to eliminate unwanted photons from entering the
PMT. The photons emitted by the sample were
detected by the PMT and sent to the SR430.
III. ELECTRONIC CONFIGURATION FOR THE
DATA COLLECTION
The electronic configuration for the data
collection is shown below in Fig. 2.
Figure 2 Schematic of the electronics for the time
dependent fluorescence measurements.
The Nd:YAG Q-switch sync-pulse was used
to initiate the timing of the data acquisition
electronics. This was accomplished by connecting
the Q-switch sync out from the laser to the trigger
input on the SR430. The PMT output was connected
to the signal input of the SR430 which enabled the
SR430 to collect the data. Each input trigger pulse
from the laser started a record whose data was added
to the bin by bin accumulation of all the previous
records on the SR430. The final result of the data
collection was a sum of all the counts in each time
bin. Careful attention was paid, in the quest, to set the
bin widths and the records per scan, to achieve
meaningful data [3]. The resulting data was
displayed, in real time, on the screen of the SR430 as
depicted in Fig. 3.
Figure 3 A photograph of the SR430 [1] showing
the front panel with example data displayed.
The data was easily optimized on the display
screen using the auto-scale feature. The fitting
functions on the SR430 math menu were used to
perform quick fitsto find rise times, which were
indicative of the gadolinium to chromium energy
transfer time, and chromium decay times. In order to
do a detailed analysis of the data, it had to be saved
on a DOS formatted 720K disk using the 3.5” disk
drive shown on the far right of Fig. 3. Once saved,
the data had to be read by computers with a 3.5”
drive and DOS 3.0 or higher. Although the majority
of the SR430 features are user friendly, this method
of saving data in DOS format is rather archaic. Even
more cumbersome, was the process of opening the
data in DOS format on a computer and then
converting the data from bin to ASCII. Hence the
goal of this project was to find a more efficient and
up to date method for saving the data in a spreadsheet
ready format.
IV. GRAPHICAL PROGRAM
The SR430 is equipped with RS232 and
GPIB (IEEE-488) computer interfaces. An initial
search for interfacing programs available for the
SR430, revealed only one option from National
Instruments (NI) which was an instrument driver [4].
Although the driver was available for download on
the NI site, it was not supported by NI. Furthermore,
when using an instrument driver, all controls are
shifted from the instrument to the computer which is
not always ideal as was the case in this experiment.
The driver was tested but found to be cumbersome
and eliminated too many of the unique features
available on the SR430. Thus a program was created
in LabVIEW™ to save the data once it was collected
by the SR430. The end result provided the
experimentalist with a way to use all the features on
the SR430 but gave alternate means for saving the
data instead of using the outdated 3.5” disk drive
with DOS formatting.
A NI GPIB controller for Hi-Speed USB
interfacing was used to connect the IEEE port of
SR430 to a laptop computer [5]. LabVEIW™
software was used to initiate communication between
the SR430 and the laptop [6]. On the main page
under NI Example Finder there is a section for
Hardware Input Output GPIB. The example under
GPIB.VI was used to create the first part of the
graphical program displayed as Fig.4 below.
Nd:YAG Laser
P
M
T
SR430
Figure 4 Graphical LabVIEW™ program used to initiate
communication between the SR430 and the computer.
S. K. Vargas / International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications
(IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com
Vol. 3, Issue 4, Jul-Aug 2013, pp.1340-1342
1342 | P a g e
The program in Fig. 4 allowed the data to be
sent from the SR430 to the computer. The data was
collected, on the SR430, before the GPIB to USB
connection was made. Once a data run was complete
the GPIB to USB connection was made with the
SR430 and the data was sent to the computer.
Although this worked smoothly the data was not in a
format easily sent to a spreadsheet. The beauty of
graphical programming is that it is easy to write and
attach additional components to a program. A
second program was created using a spreadsheet
string to array with a comma as a delimiter [6]. The
data was also transposed before it was sent to a
spreadsheet file. The second program displayed as
Fig 5 was attached the original program shown in Fig
4.
Figure 5 The LabVIEW™ program added to the
one shown in Fig. 4 which allowed that data to be
saved in a format that could be easily written to a
spreadsheet.
Once this part was added to the original
program, in a single step, the data was saved in a
spreadsheet ready format. For further analysis,
OriginLab® Data Analysis Software was used to
open the data in a spreadsheet. By simply selecting
the import ASCII file on the OriginLab® menu the
data was opened and ready for analysis.
V. CONCLUSION
Prior to the creation of the LabVEIW™
program in this project, saving data obtained by the
SR430 and opening it in a spreadsheet was a time-
consuming and cumbersome multi-step process. In
addition, finding the 720K disks required to save the
data on the SR430 3.5” drive, was not easy nor was
finding a computer equipped with a 3.5” drive to read
the data in DOS. The LabVEIW™ program,
presented in this paper, rejuvenates the powerful
features available on the SR430 by eliminating the
need for the old 3.5” disk technology. Because the
program is designed to save the data and not to act as
a driver for the device, one can continue to use all of
the unique modes available on the SR430. Moreover,
the program successfully eliminates the need for
disks, DOS and the multiple step process of
transferring the data from bin to ASCII. Users of the
SR430 or other devices that require a 3.5” drive can
simplify their data collection by using the program
presented in this paper.
There are additional features that could be
added to the program that would assist in the data
analysis. OriginLab® offers graphical components
that can be implemented into LabVIEW™ programs.
An unsuccessful attempt was made to write the data
directly to a spreadsheet using the graphical
components provided by OriginLab®. Because of
time constraints and the desire to move on to the laser
spectroscopy experiment, further attempts were not
made to edit the program. It is simple enough to
open the spreadsheet file created by the LabVIEW™
program using the import ASCII feature in Origin®.
However it would eliminate an extra step if this
process was incorporated in the program. Currently,
the user must keep record of the bin width selected
on the SR430 so the data can be modified with
correct bin time before performing the analysis.
Again it is a simple step, of multiplication, but it
could be eliminated by incorporating it into the
program. Although enhancements could be made to
the program, the current version successfully
accomplishes the original goal of the project which
was to eliminate the outdated 3.5” disk technology
that hindered the usefulness of the SR430 as a photon
counting device in the laser spectroscopy experiment.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the Virginia Military
Institute Faculty Development Committee for
granting my request for sabbatical which was
instrumental in providing the time needed to
complete this project.
REFERENCES
[1] Standford Research Sytsems, Model SR430
Multichannel Scaler/Averager Manaul,
California, 1999.
[2] S.K. Vargas, D.D. Dunne, Energy Transfer from
between Gd3+
and Cr3+
in GSGG:Cr3+
and
GGG:Cr3+
, Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry,
Volume 6, Number 4, 158-161 (2007).
[3] S.K. Vargas, Energy Transfer From Gd3+
to Cr3+
in Cr-Doped Gd3Sc2GA3012, doctoral diss.,
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 1996.
[4] National Instrument Driver Website for SR430
http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_
web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=0F7440
F195B82D29E0440003BA7CCD71
[5] National Instruments Website for the GPIB to
Hi-Speed Controller Website
http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/20
1586
[6] J. Essick, Hands-On Introduction to LabVIEW
for Scientists and Engineers (New York, Oxford,
OXFORD UNIVESRITY PRESS

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Hh3413401342

  • 1. S. K. Vargas / International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com Vol. 3, Issue 4, Jul-Aug 2013, pp.1340-1342 1340 | P a g e A Graphical Program That Eliminates the Out Dated 3.5” Disk Technology Used By the Stanford Research Multi-Channel Scaler/Averager S. K. Vargas Department of Physics and Astronomy, Virginia Military Institute, USA ABSTRACT A graphical program was created, to simplify the acquisition of data and data conversion from bin to ASCII, for data obtained by a Stanford Research Multichannel Scaler/Averager (SR430). The SR430 receives the data in the form of pulses from a photomultiplier tube (PMT). The PMT serves as the detector in a pulsed laser spectroscopy experiment. The program was created in LabVIEWTM which was developed by National Instruments. LabVIEWTM allows the user to code programming ideas by selecting and patterning graphical icons. The program presented in this paper eliminates the outdated and clumsy steps of saving the data in DOS format, on a 720K disk, using the 3.5” drive of the SR430, and then converting the data from bin to ASCII, using a DOS program. With this graphical program the user can save the data obtained by the SR430 in a spreadsheet ready format on a computer. Keywords – LabVIEWTM , ASCII, PMT, SR430, Laser Spectroscopy I. INTRODUCTION The SR430 is a versatile machine that provides an efficient means of collecting time- dependent photon data in laser spectroscopy experiments. It allows the experimentalist to count incoming photon pulses in successive time bins sent from a PMT. The duration of the time bins is programmable on the SR430 from 5 nanoseconds to 10 microseconds. A trigger starts a record of up to 32,704 time bins. The number of records collected is also programmable from 1 to 65,535 (or free run). Each trigger starts a new record and the data is added to the bin by bin accumulation of all the previous records [1]. In addition the SR430 offers advanced functions such as Smoothing, Curve Fitting and Autoscale. Yet as useful as the SR430 is for collecting time-resolved photon data, the method for saving the data on the machine is an outdated 3.5” disk drive which saves the data in DOS format. After the data is saved it has to be converted from bin to ASCII using a DOS program. Fortunately the SR430 does offer a GPIB interface. The goal of this project was to use the GPIB interface and LabVIEWTM to create a program that would eliminate the need for the 3.5” disk drive and to save the data in ASCII format. Saving the data in this format simplifies the process of transferring it to a spreadsheet for graphing and analysis purposes. In section II general information on the laser spectroscopy experiment in which the SR430 was used will be discussed. Section III will describe the timing of the electronics required to operate the SR430 as a photon counter in the experiment, as well as, some of the features available on the SR430. In section IV details of the LabVIEW™ program will be presented. Lastly section V will provide concluding remarks and future works. II. THE LASER SPECTROSCOPY EXPERIMENT The desire to create an interfacing program for the SR430 was prompted by its role in a laser spectroscopy experiment. The experiment was designed to investigate the energy transfer process between gadolinium and chromium in chromium doped gadolinium garnets. The experimental arrangement for the spectroscopy experiment is displayed as Fig. 1. Figure 1 Experimental arrangement for the time dependent measurements of the sample fluorescence using the SR430. The combination of the Nd:YAG laser and the dye laser served as the excitation source for the sample. An appropriate wavelength was selected to excite the gadolinium in the sample [2]. Upon excitation of the gadolinium, energy was transferred to the chromium and the resulting chromium fluorescence signal emitted was collected with a Hammamatsu R928 red enhanced side-window PMT. The sample was positioned at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the excitation source and the resulting emission was collected at an angle of 90 degrees to the excitation source. The voltage supply to the PMT was maintained at 1000 volts. A combination of neutral density filters and glass color Nd:YAG Laser Dye Laser P M T SR430 &Computer Filters Sample
  • 2. S. K. Vargas / International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com Vol. 3, Issue 4, Jul-Aug 2013, pp.1340-1342 1341 | P a g e filters were taped directly on the PMT window to select the appropriate wavelength and signal strength needed to collect the fluorescence emitted by the sample. In addition, black cloth was used to cover the entire region between the sample and the detector to eliminate unwanted photons from entering the PMT. The photons emitted by the sample were detected by the PMT and sent to the SR430. III. ELECTRONIC CONFIGURATION FOR THE DATA COLLECTION The electronic configuration for the data collection is shown below in Fig. 2. Figure 2 Schematic of the electronics for the time dependent fluorescence measurements. The Nd:YAG Q-switch sync-pulse was used to initiate the timing of the data acquisition electronics. This was accomplished by connecting the Q-switch sync out from the laser to the trigger input on the SR430. The PMT output was connected to the signal input of the SR430 which enabled the SR430 to collect the data. Each input trigger pulse from the laser started a record whose data was added to the bin by bin accumulation of all the previous records on the SR430. The final result of the data collection was a sum of all the counts in each time bin. Careful attention was paid, in the quest, to set the bin widths and the records per scan, to achieve meaningful data [3]. The resulting data was displayed, in real time, on the screen of the SR430 as depicted in Fig. 3. Figure 3 A photograph of the SR430 [1] showing the front panel with example data displayed. The data was easily optimized on the display screen using the auto-scale feature. The fitting functions on the SR430 math menu were used to perform quick fitsto find rise times, which were indicative of the gadolinium to chromium energy transfer time, and chromium decay times. In order to do a detailed analysis of the data, it had to be saved on a DOS formatted 720K disk using the 3.5” disk drive shown on the far right of Fig. 3. Once saved, the data had to be read by computers with a 3.5” drive and DOS 3.0 or higher. Although the majority of the SR430 features are user friendly, this method of saving data in DOS format is rather archaic. Even more cumbersome, was the process of opening the data in DOS format on a computer and then converting the data from bin to ASCII. Hence the goal of this project was to find a more efficient and up to date method for saving the data in a spreadsheet ready format. IV. GRAPHICAL PROGRAM The SR430 is equipped with RS232 and GPIB (IEEE-488) computer interfaces. An initial search for interfacing programs available for the SR430, revealed only one option from National Instruments (NI) which was an instrument driver [4]. Although the driver was available for download on the NI site, it was not supported by NI. Furthermore, when using an instrument driver, all controls are shifted from the instrument to the computer which is not always ideal as was the case in this experiment. The driver was tested but found to be cumbersome and eliminated too many of the unique features available on the SR430. Thus a program was created in LabVIEW™ to save the data once it was collected by the SR430. The end result provided the experimentalist with a way to use all the features on the SR430 but gave alternate means for saving the data instead of using the outdated 3.5” disk drive with DOS formatting. A NI GPIB controller for Hi-Speed USB interfacing was used to connect the IEEE port of SR430 to a laptop computer [5]. LabVEIW™ software was used to initiate communication between the SR430 and the laptop [6]. On the main page under NI Example Finder there is a section for Hardware Input Output GPIB. The example under GPIB.VI was used to create the first part of the graphical program displayed as Fig.4 below. Nd:YAG Laser P M T SR430 Figure 4 Graphical LabVIEW™ program used to initiate communication between the SR430 and the computer.
  • 3. S. K. Vargas / International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 www.ijera.com Vol. 3, Issue 4, Jul-Aug 2013, pp.1340-1342 1342 | P a g e The program in Fig. 4 allowed the data to be sent from the SR430 to the computer. The data was collected, on the SR430, before the GPIB to USB connection was made. Once a data run was complete the GPIB to USB connection was made with the SR430 and the data was sent to the computer. Although this worked smoothly the data was not in a format easily sent to a spreadsheet. The beauty of graphical programming is that it is easy to write and attach additional components to a program. A second program was created using a spreadsheet string to array with a comma as a delimiter [6]. The data was also transposed before it was sent to a spreadsheet file. The second program displayed as Fig 5 was attached the original program shown in Fig 4. Figure 5 The LabVIEW™ program added to the one shown in Fig. 4 which allowed that data to be saved in a format that could be easily written to a spreadsheet. Once this part was added to the original program, in a single step, the data was saved in a spreadsheet ready format. For further analysis, OriginLab® Data Analysis Software was used to open the data in a spreadsheet. By simply selecting the import ASCII file on the OriginLab® menu the data was opened and ready for analysis. V. CONCLUSION Prior to the creation of the LabVEIW™ program in this project, saving data obtained by the SR430 and opening it in a spreadsheet was a time- consuming and cumbersome multi-step process. In addition, finding the 720K disks required to save the data on the SR430 3.5” drive, was not easy nor was finding a computer equipped with a 3.5” drive to read the data in DOS. The LabVEIW™ program, presented in this paper, rejuvenates the powerful features available on the SR430 by eliminating the need for the old 3.5” disk technology. Because the program is designed to save the data and not to act as a driver for the device, one can continue to use all of the unique modes available on the SR430. Moreover, the program successfully eliminates the need for disks, DOS and the multiple step process of transferring the data from bin to ASCII. Users of the SR430 or other devices that require a 3.5” drive can simplify their data collection by using the program presented in this paper. There are additional features that could be added to the program that would assist in the data analysis. OriginLab® offers graphical components that can be implemented into LabVIEW™ programs. An unsuccessful attempt was made to write the data directly to a spreadsheet using the graphical components provided by OriginLab®. Because of time constraints and the desire to move on to the laser spectroscopy experiment, further attempts were not made to edit the program. It is simple enough to open the spreadsheet file created by the LabVIEW™ program using the import ASCII feature in Origin®. However it would eliminate an extra step if this process was incorporated in the program. Currently, the user must keep record of the bin width selected on the SR430 so the data can be modified with correct bin time before performing the analysis. Again it is a simple step, of multiplication, but it could be eliminated by incorporating it into the program. Although enhancements could be made to the program, the current version successfully accomplishes the original goal of the project which was to eliminate the outdated 3.5” disk technology that hindered the usefulness of the SR430 as a photon counting device in the laser spectroscopy experiment. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Virginia Military Institute Faculty Development Committee for granting my request for sabbatical which was instrumental in providing the time needed to complete this project. REFERENCES [1] Standford Research Sytsems, Model SR430 Multichannel Scaler/Averager Manaul, California, 1999. [2] S.K. Vargas, D.D. Dunne, Energy Transfer from between Gd3+ and Cr3+ in GSGG:Cr3+ and GGG:Cr3+ , Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry, Volume 6, Number 4, 158-161 (2007). [3] S.K. Vargas, Energy Transfer From Gd3+ to Cr3+ in Cr-Doped Gd3Sc2GA3012, doctoral diss., University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 1996. [4] National Instrument Driver Website for SR430 http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_ web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=0F7440 F195B82D29E0440003BA7CCD71 [5] National Instruments Website for the GPIB to Hi-Speed Controller Website http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/20 1586 [6] J. Essick, Hands-On Introduction to LabVIEW for Scientists and Engineers (New York, Oxford, OXFORD UNIVESRITY PRESS