Zurich Instruments Lock-in Amplifiers and Arbitrary Wave Generators (AWG) can now be synchronized thanks to the new Multi-device Synchronization function (MDS). This allows multiple instruments to be connected together and controlled on one user-friendly interface. The MDS takes care of the synchronization of both the 10 MHz clock and the sampling rates of each connected instrument. Instead of using one multi-channel instrument, single instruments can be added as required and subsequently synchronized as one. This increases the flexibility and scalability of existing measurement systems.
LabOne software
The included LabOne software allows stress-free measurements to be taken simultaneously on multiple instruments. Datapoints taken at the same time are labelled with the corresponding timestamp, allowing the datapoints to be clearly assigned and analyzed. Furthermore, LabOne offers a wide range of integrated tools for signal analysis, reducing the complexity of the experimental setup (Lock-in Amplifier, Sweeper, Signal Generator, Oscilloscope, FFT-Spectrum Analyzer, Spectroscope, Digitizer). Existing customers of Zurich Instruments can also add MDS functionality free of charge by updating LabOne to version 17.12.
Applications
Multi-device Synchronization is especially interesting when building prototype quantum computing setups, as the number of signal channels can be easily and reliably scaled up. Further applications include quantum transport measurements where, for example, Hall resistance and electrical resistance are measured simultaneously. In synchrotron applications such as beam position monitoring, MDS facilitates multi-axis measurements.
