A new Pulse-Pattern Generator based on LabVIEW FPGA

For the control of experimental sequences composed of triggers, gates and delays a Pulse-Pattern Generator (PPG) has been developed based on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) addressed in a LabVIEW environment. It allows a highly reproducible timing of measurement procedures by up to 64 individual channels with pulse and delay periods from the nanoseconds to the minutes range. The PPG has been implemented in the context of the development of a new control system for the ClusterTrap setup, an ion storage device for atomic-cluster research, in close contact with the SHIPTRAP and ISOLTRAP collaborations at GSI and CERN, respectively. As the new PPG is not ion-trap specific it can be employed in any experiment based on sequences of triggers, pulses and delays. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.