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A scalable hardware and software control apparatus for experiments with hybrid quantum systems
Modern experiments with fundamental quantum systems - like ultracold atoms,
trapped ions, single photons - are managed by a control system formed by a
number of input/output electronic channels governed by a computer. In hybrid
quantum systems, where two or more quantum systems are combined and made to
interact, establishing an efficient control system is particularly challenging
due to the higher complexity, especially when each single quantum system is
characterized by a different timescale. Here we present a new control apparatus
specifically designed to efficiently manage hybrid quantum systems. The
apparatus is formed by a network of fast communicating Field Programmable Gate
Arrays (FPGAs), the action of which is administrated by a software. Both
hardware and software share the same tree-like structure, which ensures a full
scalability of the control apparatus. In the hardware, a master board acts on a
number of slave boards, each of which is equipped with an FPGA that locally
drives analog and digital input/output channels and radiofrequency (RF) outputs
up to 400 MHz. The software is designed to be a general platform for managing
both commercial and home-made instruments in a user-friendly and intuitive
Graphical User Interface (GUI). The architecture ensures that complex control
protocols can be carried out, such as performing of concurrent commands loops
by acting on different channels, the generation of multi-variable error
functions and the implementation of self-optimization procedures. Although
designed for managing experiments with hybrid quantum systems, in particular
with atom-ion mixtures, this control apparatus can in principle be used in any
experiment in atomic, molecular, and optical physics.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure
SciTech News Volume 71, No. 3 (2017)
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