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Light Sources, AOTF, and Filter Wheel

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Kyle M. Douglass edited this page May 19, 2026 · 3 revisions

488 nm Laser

Hardware

  • Coherent Sapphire

Serial Control

Settings

  • Baud: 19200 bps
  • Line terminator: CR (carriage return)

Commands

Command format: command=<value> Query format: ?query

  • ?E: Echo status
  • E= 0|1: Echo off|on
  • ?L: Light servo status
  • L=0|1: Light servo off|on. TEC servo must be on (T=1) to enable
  • ?P: Read laser power. Light servo must be enabled (L=1).
  • P=[30,330] Set laser power. Light servo must be enabled (L=1).

561 nm Laser

Hardware

  • Laser Quantum (now Novanta Photonics) Gem
  • SMD12 Power Supply Unit

Properties

  • Maximum power:

Serial Control

Settings

  • Baud: 9600 bps
  • Line terminator: CR LF (carriage return + line feed)

Commands

  • OFF
  • ON
  • CONTROL=CURRENT|POWER: Set to constant current or power mode
  • POWER?: Get the current power
  • POWER=XXX: Set the power to XXX in mW

LED Lamp

  • Thorlabs M617L3
    • S/N: 00756518
  • Thorlabs LEDD1B Driver

Misc.

  • 2026/03/02 Current limit set to 200 mA
  • In MOD mode, the LED current is i = i_max * V / V_max, where i_max is the current limit and V_max is 5 V.

AOTF

The AOTF settings are stored in the device's EEPROM so that it requires only the NI-DAQ signals to control.

The blanking input is analog, not digital! Maximum voltage corresponds to AOTF max. voltage setting, which is 10 V (2026/01/12).

Hardware

  • AA Optoelectronic AOTFnc-400.650-TN
  • AA Optoelectronic MPDS8c-D65-22-74.158-RS
    • USB Info (2026/01/12)
      • Chip: FTDI FT232R USB UART
      • COM Port: 8

Software

TheMPDS

  • GUI provided by AAO.
  • Located in C:\Software\AAOptoelectronic
  • Be sure to connect to the correct COM port

Config

Date: 2026/01/12

image image image

Pinout

(see page 4 of the AOTFnc_MDS-OEM manual)

D-Sub 25

  • Pin 11: Channel 2 (561 nm laser) Red Wire
  • Pin 12: Channel 1 (488 nm laser) Green Wire
  • Pin 13: Blanking (BLK) Black Wire
  • Pin 14: Ground (GND)
  • Pin 15: Ground (GND)
  • Pin 16: Ground (GND)

Filter Wheel

Filter Positions

2026/03/02

  • 0 : Blank
  • 1 : Green emission
  • 2 : Red emission

The rest are blank.

Micro-Manager

  • Use the SutterLambda2 device adapter
    • Baud rate (for USB connection): 128000
    • Peripheral: Wheel-A
  • Use a State Change Speed of 1. Put this in the Startup presets of the System group.

Test Procedure: 488 nm Laser On/Off and Power Adjustment

  1. Power on power switch 1 and the PC. Log into Windows.
  2. Open termite. Connect to 488 nm laser COM port (see here for number). (Use a baud rate of 19200 and CR line terminator.)
  3. Enable laser servo with command L=1
  4. Set output power to minimum value of 30 mw P=30.
  5. Open the NI MAX software.
  6. Select Devices and Interfaces > NI PCI-6733 "Dev1" > Create Task... if a task for this test is not already created (otherwise open the task from Data Neighborhood > NI-DAQmx Tasks. Select Generate Signals > Analog Output > Voltage. Choose both ao 2(blanking) andao 3` (488 nm laser) channels.
  7. Select a Square Wave test signal type
  8. For the Blanking channel voltage, set the range to [0V, 10V].
  9. For the 488 nm modulation channel, set the range to [0V, 10V].
  10. For timing, set Generation Mode to 1 Sample (On Demand).
  11. Set the blanking channel voltage to 10 V
  12. Vary the 488nm modulation channel between 0 and 10 V. You should see the laser power after the AOTF vary accordingly.

Test Procedure: 561 nm Laser On/Off and Power Adjustment

  1. Power on power switch 1 and the PC. Log into Windows.
  2. Open termite. Connect to 561 nm laser COM port (see here for number). (Use a baud rate of 9600 and CR-LF line terminator.)
  3. Turn on the laser with command on
  4. Open the NI MAX software.
  5. Select Devices and Interfaces > NI PCI-6733 "Dev1" > Create Task... if a task for this test is not already created (otherwise open the task from Data Neighborhood > NI-DAQmx Tasks. Select Generate Signals > Analog Output > Voltage. Choose both ao 2(blanking) andao 4` (561 nm laser) channels.
  6. Select a Square Wave test signal type
  7. For the Blanking channel voltage, set the range to [0V, 10V].
  8. For the 561 nm modulation channel, set the range to [0V, 10V].
  9. For timing, set Generation Mode to 1 Sample (On Demand).
  10. Set the blanking channel voltage to 10 V
  11. Vary the 561 nm modulation channel between 0 and 10 V. You should see the laser power after the AOTF vary accordingly.

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