AIXscan® is a control and measurement solution for analysis of ultrafast signals in:
- THz spectroscopy and imaging
- Time resolved femto-second laser metrology
- Effective ultra strong noise reduction in biomedical and environmental analytics and tomography
- Signal-to-Noise booster for high speed repetitive signals
- Pump-probe optical time resolved experiments including mechanical or optical delay lines
- Asynchronous optical sampling (ASOPS) (no mechanical delay line)
- Four-wave mixing
- Perfectly suited for MHz to GHz repetition rate lasers
The common approach for time-resolved measurements on ultra short time scales (typically t<10-12s) is a pump-probe setup utilising pulsed pico or femto second lasers. The fast repeated laser pulses are used to gate and sample signals in a stroboscopic manner to access the shortest time scales.
Detectors for THz signals like our THz Near Field Tip are used to convert the THz signal into measurable frequency range.
Fig. 1: THz-Tip
The response of the sample (e.g. change of reflectivity or transmission) to a pump pulse is probed by a second pulse, variably time-delayed with respect to the pump pulse. The classic approach to increase the SNR is to use a lock-in amplifier to measure the pump induced signal changes for different time delays achieved with a motorized delay stage. This aproach suffers from low measurement speed and sensitivity to low speed signal drifts.
AMO has developed the integrated system AIXscan to combine data acquisition, SNR improvement and the delay line control into one system. AIXscan is using our FASTSCAN signal averaging technology to replace the lock-in-amplifier and simultaneously increase the measurement speed by orders of magnitude.
AIXscan is based on a state of the art compact PCI technology with an integrated high performance PC and multi channel analog inputs. High precision delay line control and class D power amplifier control the measurement setup.
- Fig.2: Schematic sketch of a pump-probe setup
FastScan Technology
The main feature of the AIXscan system is the synchronisation of the broadband data acquistion with a fast delay line driver. This driver powers a fast "shaker" to delay laser path length periodically.
The system acquires and averages complete transients of the signal using our real-time FastScan technology in the parallel hardware structure. This allows drastically reduced acquisition times. Using scan frequencies up to 100 Hz, well above the low frequency noise of the laser, a signal-to-noise ratio of 106 to 109 is achieved.
AIXscan Software
- Fig. 3.: Screenshot of Aix Scan Software
