ACQUIRING DATA
iKon-L SECTION 5
Page 81
5.16.1 - Time to Open or Close
Shutters take a finite time to open or close and this is sometimes called the Shutter Transfer Time (STT). The
documentation supplied by the shutter manufacturer should indicate the STT you can expect from your
particular shutter. In the case of a CCD detector, the STT gives enough time for the shutter to open before
acquisition starts and enough time to close after acquisition finishes and before readout commences.
Let us look at the Transfer Time in the context of the Andor system. By default, the value you enter in the
Exposure Time text box on the Setup Acquisition dialog box determines the length of time the shutter will be in
the open state.
However, to accommodate the Transfer Time, the rising edge of the shutter output is sent before the FIRE
output signal by an amount equal to the STT. You should set this value to the Transfer Time of your shutter.
The system also automatically adds the Transfer Time to the end of the acquisition sequence, introducing an
appropriate delay between the start of the shutter closed state and the commencement of the data being read
out as shown in the following example diagram:
If you do not have a shutter connected, set the Time to open or close to 0. Setting the Time to open or close
to any other value will insert extra delays into cycle time calculations.
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