Starpoint Adaptive Optics

Home About Products Background Technology News & Events Contact

Data Sheet

AmpArrayLV

Overview

The AmpArrayLV™ is a low voltage, high current, 37-channel amplifier unit capable of driving adaptive mirrors with actuator load capacitances in the 1μF – 10μF range, at the frequencies typically required to correct atmospheric turbulence. It contains no internal digital-to-analogue converters, and is intended to be driven by an external source of analogue control signals.

Each amplifier channel delivers a ±20V swing about a −40V or −60V bias level, providing 2.6μm of stroke for mirrors with a 0.07μm/V actuator response. The 5mA mean drive current is sufficient to drive a 10μF actuator at atmospheric turbulence frequencies. The AmpArrayLV provides hardware voltage limiting between nearest neighbour actuators, a safety feature required by many continuous face-sheet mirrors. The quiescent power dissipation is exceptionally low.

The analogue in–analogue out interface configuration was created to allow a deformable mirror to be controlled directly from high-level data acquisition and instrument control software, without requiring additional device driver software. The AmpArrayLV would typically be driven by a PC multi-channel DAC card supported by the user's preferred high-level software. The input specification matches the output characteristics of many popular DAC cards offered with the leading instrument control software packages.

This simple yet versatile device comes in a compact enclosure and requires only a single +5V dc power supply input. It is priced at less than £40 per channel. It offers a convenient and economical way to control continuous face-sheet mirrors that have high actuator capacitance.

System Specification

System Characteristics
Number of amplifier channels 37
Amplifier Gain −2.1± 2%
Input Characteristics
Input Voltage Range −10V to +10V
Input Impedance 150kΩ
Output Characteristics
Output Voltage Range −20V to +20V
Bias Voltage −40V or −60V, manually settable.
Nearest Neighbour Voltage Limit 20.0V ≤ |ΔV| ≤ 22.1V
Output Drive Current (mean) 5mA
Signal Bandwidth 500Hz @ -3dB corner
Physical Characteristics
Quiescent Power Dissipation 35mW / channel
Enclosure Dimensions 166mm(D) × 106mm(W) × 34mm(H)
Power In +5V dc regulated, @ 2A

Connector Pin Assignment

System Connectors:
Signal Input Connector: 44-way HD22 (density-and-a-half) 'D'-type socket.
Drive Output Connector: 78-way HD22 (density-and-a-half) 'D'-type socket.
Power Supply Connector: 0.1" pin miniature power jack. (Power supply is included).

Pin assignment on the input (44-way) and output (78-way) 'D'-type connectors, and the protection diode configuration. The diode array imposes a fixed mapping of amplifier channels onto mirror actuators. This mapping must be adhered to.

 
Input Connector: 44-way Output Connector: 78-way
 
Pin No. Signal Pin No. Signal Pin No. Signal
1 IN36 1 OUT0 40 OUT1
2 GND 2 OUT2 41 OUT3
3 IN31 3 OUT4 42 OUT5
4 GND 4 OUT6 43 OUT7
5 IN26 5 OUT8 44 OUT9
6 IN23 6 OUT10 45 OUT11
7 IN21 7 OUT12 46 OUT13
8 IN18 8 OUT14 47 OUT15
9 IN15 9 OUT16 48 OUT17
10 IN13 10 OUT18 49 GND
11 IN10 11 OUT19 50 OUT20
12 GND 12 OUT21 51 OUT22
13 IN5 13 OUT23 52 OUT24
14 GND 14 OUT25 53 OUT26
15 IN0 15 OUT27 54 OUT28
16 GND 16 OUT29 55 OUT30
17 IN34 17 OUT31 56 OUT32
18 IN32 18 OUT33 57 OUT34
19 IN29 19 OUT35 58 OUT36
20 IN27 20 GND 59 GND
21 IN24 21 BIAS 60 BIAS
22 GND 22 BIAS 61 BIAS
23 IN19 23 BIAS 62 BIAS
24 IN16 24 BIAS 63 BIAS
25 IN14 25 BIAS 64 BIAS
26 IN11 26 BIAS 65 BIAS
27 IN8 27 BIAS 66 BIAS
28 IN6 28 BIAS 67 BIAS
29 IN3 29 BIAS 68 BIAS
30 IN1 30 BIAS 69 GND
31 IN35 31 BIAS 70 BIAS
32 IN33 32 BIAS 71 BIAS
33 IN30 33 BIAS 72 BIAS
34 IN28 34 BIAS 73 BIAS
35 IN25 35 BIAS 74 BIAS
36 IN22 36 BIAS 75 BIAS
37 IN20 37 BIAS 76 BIAS
38 IN17 38 BIAS 77 BIAS
39 GND 39 BIAS 78 BIAS
40 IN12
41 IN9
42 IN7
43 IN4
44 IN2
 


© 2005 Starpoint Adaptive Optics Limited