ILX Lightwave LDC 3714B - Scanning Rate

[AlfredoT]

Hello,

I am trying to perform rapid scans of the current of a tunable diode laser that is controlled by an ILX Lightwave LDC 3714B. The laser wavelength can be tuned via the temperature and current of the controller. Using LabView, however, I am restricted as to the speed at which I may update the values of the current, say, from 50mA to 51 mA.

I have attached two simple codes; one of which varies the temperature of the controller and one which varies its current. When the temperature control code is running, I have the option of updating the temperature through the LabView front panel interface. Notice however, that this code does NOT require a WAIT within the while loop to be able to update to the next desired temperature. The code will work without this WAIT. The code that varies the current requires a wait of 400ms within the while loop for the controller to be able to update the current values. Without this wait, the current code does not work and this in return sets a limit as to the speed at which I can scan the current. 

Is this a limitation of the ILX instrument? Is there a setting on the ILX instrument that will allow me to perform rapid scans?

Thank you.

[Justin_E]

Hey Alfredo,

I checked our Instrument Driver Network (www.ni.com/idnet) and found a driver for the ILX LDC-3714. This driver can be found here : http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.model_page?p_model_id=2713 

One caveat is that this driver is not NI-Certified, so we cannot provide support for it.

However, you might want to try downloading this driver anyway to see if it will work for your application. I'm not sure if this will resolve the 400ms wait that's required in that while loop, but it will tell you whether or not this issue is with the software or with the device itself.