Compact DAQ (cDAQ) is yet another separate thing, distinct from and incompatible with PCI, PCIe, and PXIe. It's robust and modular, but the USB connection continues to be a limitation for latency and bandwidth. Whether better or worse than a "regular" USB DAQ device depends on exactly what you're doing and what kind of signals you need to create or collect.
I've seen a number of threads about controlling galvo mirrors and collecting response data. They normally seem to involve syncing 2 analog output signals (to "sweep" the illumination source via mirror control) with 1 or more measurement tasks, either analog or counter.
This much would generally be very doable with the right USB device or a USB-connected cDAQ chassis populated with the right modules. However when you mention "nanosecond lifetimes", that's very demanding and I don't know if there are USB or cDAQ devices to support that.
You should probably have an interactive conversation with an NI Sales/Tech rep to start narrowing things down. Then come on back with the questions that remain.
-Kevin P
ALERT! LabVIEW's subscription-only policy came to an end (finally!). Unfortunately, pricing favors the captured and committed over new adopters -- so tread carefully.
