Photonics
Red Pitaya for Photonics applications
Red Pitaya excels as a versatile tool essential for photonics applications, providing a robust digital feedback control system perfectly tuned for the demands of photonics research. Its integration of FPGA, ADC, DAC, and CPU capabilities offers a cost-effective and adaptable platform ideal for tasks like laser locking, frequency stabilization, optical references, and scanning probe microscopy. Supported by open-source software such as PyRPL, Linien, and DPLL, Red Pitaya extends its utility with scalable, automated feedback solutions that seamlessly integrate diagnostic tools and locking techniques. This makes it indispensable for advanced photonics research, enabling applications ranging from atomic force microscopy to laser frequency stabilization and precision measurements in phase-locked loops. Read more about them below.
Python Red Pitaya Lockbox (PyRPL): An open source software package for digital feedback control in quantum optics experiments
PyRPL is an open-source software package designed for implementing digital feedback controllers in quantum optics experiments using affordable FPGA boards like the Red Pitaya. It enables scalable, automated feedback control solutions by integrating diagnostic tools such as oscilloscopes, network analyzers, and PID controllers. PyRPL's digital approach surpasses traditional analog controllers, offering advanced features like high-complexity filters and nonlinear operations at a reduced cost. Its open-source flexibility allows users to customize and integrate PyRPL-based controllers into existing experimental setups by reconfiguring FPGA functionality.
Linien - User-friendly locking of lasers using RedPitaya
Linien is a user-friendly application developed for laser locking using the Red Pitaya STEMlab 125-14. Built on Python and Migen, Linien excels in locking spectroscopy signals through Pound-Drever-Hall and PID operations. It offers GUI control and Python scripting, with easy installation via pip. Linien simplifies laser locking by focusing on precision and efficiency, following the UNIX philosophy of excelling at a single task. Leveraging Red Pitaya's capabilities, Linien provides precise control over lasers, making it indispensable for photonics applications, particularly in spectroscopy and laser locking tasks.
Digital Phase-locked-loop for Locking a Frequency Comb using a Red Pitaya
The Frequency Comb DPLL project harnesses Red Pitaya's FPGA-based hardware and open-source software to offer a versatile digital platform for stabilizing frequency combs with precise phase-locking techniques. It features a Python-based GUI for remote monitoring and optimizing the DPLL servo loop. The project's open-source nature allows users to download and customize firmware and software, tailoring the Red Pitaya for cost-effective and customizable laser locking solutions tailored to specific frequency comb setups.
Laser monitoring of methane emissions with Red Pitaya
LongPath Technologies utilizes a Red Pitaya STEMlab as the primary fast feedback controller for their frequency comb lasers. These Nobel Prize-winning technologies enable LongPath's extensive laser networks, offering cost-effective detection and quantification of specific emission sources across large areas. The Red Pitaya integrates high-performance analog-to-digital converters, field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and robust processing capabilities to precisely control the frequency comb lasers, ensuring stability and accuracy crucial for LongPath's greenhouse gas monitoring applications. This collaboration delivers a cost-effective, industrial-grade system for reliable, real-time methane and emission data across wide geographic areas, supporting critical environmental monitoring and emission reduction initiatives.
Compact plug-and-play optical frequency reference for Doppler-free spectroscopy of Rb vapor
This project showcases a standalone optical frequency reference system designed for Doppler-free spectroscopy of Rb vapor. It utilizes frequency-modulation (FM) spectroscopy with a distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode operating on the D2 transition at 780 nm. The system produces 6 mW of stabilized light and incorporates dedicated software, a control and lock-in amplification unit, temperature controller, and current driver. The Red Pitaya STEMlab 125-14 board plays a pivotal role in managing and overseeing the system's operations, ensuring its compactness, robustness, and autonomy as an optical frequency reference solution.
Laser Frequency Stabilization using a Prescaler and a High-Resolution Frequency to Voltage Converter
This project focuses on developing a laser frequency stabilization system essential for quantum simulation experiments. Lasers operating in the hundreds of terahertz range are critical for manipulating atoms in these experiments, but their frequency drifts can impair performance. The solution involves a frequency prescaler, a low-latency Frequency to Voltage Converter (FVC) implemented on an FPGA, and a PID controller. The FVC adapts processing window sizes and scales detected frequencies to a configurable DAC output by counting zero crossings. The Red Pitaya board serves as the hardware platform, utilizing its FPGA, ADC, DAC, and processing capabilities to achieve precise frequency detection and stabilization with high resolution and minimal latency.
Laser locking techniques and the manufacturing of vapor cells for spectroscopy
This tutorial provides practical guidance on laser locking techniques for atomic vapor research and laser cooling, including insights into fabricating vapor cells. It covers essential techniques used in laboratories, key parameters for locked laser systems in thermal atomic vapor applications, and details a versatile locking system tailored to research needs. Laser locking is achieved using STEMlab modules daisy-chained for shared clock signals, enabling demodulation of a common reference oscillation on the reference laser.
Enhancing Frequency Locking: FPGA-Guided Modulation Spectroscopy for Laser Stabilization
This project introduces a cost-effective laser frequency locking method based on frequency modulation spectroscopy (FMS), tailored for precise measurements and experiments across diverse fields. By digitally modulating the detected signal frequency via an FPGA controlled by a custom-built lock-in and PID system, the setup achieves superior precision, ease of use, and adaptability. Leveraging the Red Pitaya's FPGA capabilities, the system implements key components such as digital frequency modulation and a robust lock-in and proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control system.
