Nanosecond-level data acquistion for experimental astrophysics

Abstract

Linear translation stages are an integral part of Fourier spectroscopic and interferometric instruments; corresponding metrology data must be properly characterized to mitigate any deleterious effects in subsequent data processing and analysis. In order to profile the linear stages, micro-controllers, coarse counting timing circuits, and field programmable gate array solutions are constructed and compared to determine accuracy, ease of use with respect to purpose, cost, and development time. The final linear stage calibration products will be used to determine velocity jitter for Aerotech linear stages, which in turn may be applied to increase accuracy of spatial/spectral interferometric observations and simulate expected errors in the respective system.