PicoQuant MultiHarp 150 - Hardware and Software Installation; Scope; Whats New in this Version; General Installation Notes

PicoQuantGmbH MultiHarpSoftwareV.3.1.0.0
3. Hardware and Software Installation
3.1. Scope
ThischaptercoversthehardwareinstallationofMultiHarp150andMultiHarp160.Regardingsoftwarethisman-
ualdescribessolelythe standard MultiHarp softwareprovidingusersoftheinstrumentswithaneasytouse
graphicalinterface.TheMultiHarpsoftwarerunsoncurrentWindowsPCplatformsandalsounderLinuxwith
Wine(seesection8.4).Itprovidesfunctionsforsettingmeasurementparameters,displayingmeasurementre-
sults,loadingandsavingofmeasurementparametersanddecaycurves,etc.
InadditiontothestandardMultiHarpsoftwarethereareavarietyofothersoftwareitems that are not covered
by this manual:
MHLibisaprogramminglibraryenablinguserstowritecustomdataacquisitionprogramsfortheMultiHarpin
virtuallyallpopularprogrammingenvironmentsforMicrosoftWindows.ThereisalsoaversionforLinux(Intel
processorarchitectureonly)whichisfullycompatiblewiththatforWindowssothatapplicationscaneasilybe
portedacrossthetwooperatingsystems.Theprogramminglibraryisnotcoveredhereinthismanual.Please
seetheseparateinstallationanddocumentationfiles(separateforWindowsandLinux)providedonthedistribu-
tionmediaandviadownloadfromtheMultiHarpproductpagesontheWeb.
TheexternalFPGAinterface(EFI)isanovelfeatureexclusivetotheMultiHarp160.ItpermitsretrievingTTTR
modedataatsubstantiallyhigherbandwidththanviaUSB.Thisenablescustomdataprocessinginreal-time,
waybeyondthecapabilitiesofaPCintermsofspeedandlatency.However,sincetheEFIisanexperttoolre-
quiringknowledgeofFPGAprogrammingandwritingsuitablecustomsoftware,itisnotsupportedbythestan-
dardMultiHarpsoftwaredescribedhereinthismanual.InordertoenableandusetheEFIfromthesoftware
sidethereareasetofdedicatedroutinesprovidedintheprogramminglibrarymentionedabove.Sinceusingthe
EFIisanadvancedtopicinitsown,alsoinvolvingafairamountofFPGAprogrammingdetails,thereisasepa-
ratemanualforthis.ItisprovidedonthedistributionmediaaspartoftheEFIgatewareandsoftwarepack.The
mostrecentversioncanbedownloadedfromtheMultiHarp160productpageathttps://www.picoquant.com/
products/category/tcspc-and-time-tagging-modules/multiharp-160.
FurtheritemsofPicoQuantsoftwaresupportingtheMultiHarpdevicesaretheEasyTau2FluorescenceDecay
FitSoftware,theSymPhoTime64software,andtheQuCoasoftware.Theseallowhighlyprofessional,applica-
tionfocuseduseofthedevicesinthecontextsoftime-resolvedspectroscopy,microscopy,andquantumoptical
research,respectively.PleaseseethePicoQuantwebsiteformoreinformationontheseitems.
3.2. What's New in this Version
ThemostsignificantnewcapabilityofthenewMultiHarpsoftwareversion3.1.0.0issupportforeventfilteringin
thetimetaggingmodes(seesection5.3.8).Asusual,italsofixessomesmallissuesincodeanddocumentation
thatwerefoundsincethelastrelease.Thefileformatremainsunchanged,exceptthatincaseofeventfiltered
filesthefileheadernowcontainsthecorrespondingsettings.Thankstoourtaggedfileformat(.PTU)this
changeistransparentforexistingsoftwareandPicoQuant’sdataanalysissoftwaresuchasSymPhoTime64,
QuCoaandEasyTau2remaincompatible.Neverthelessitmaycauseunexpectedeffectsifafilteredfileispre-
sentedtooldersoftwarethatcannotbeawareofthefiltering.Itisthereforerecommendedtoupgradesuchsoft-
ware,inparticularcoincidenceanalysissoftwaresuchasQuCoa,whereeventfilteringislikelytoberelevant.
3.3. General Installation Notes
WhenhandlingtheMultiHarpsystem,makesuretoavoidelectrostaticdischarges,especiallywhenconnecting
cables.Beforeconnectinganysignals,carefullystudythemaximumratingsgiveninsection8.3.1.
NotethattheotherPicoQuantTCSPCdeviceshavetheirownsoftwareandtheirownmanuals.TheMultiHarp
softwaredoesnotworkwiththesedevicesandthismanualdoesnotrelatetotheminanymeaningfulway.
TheMultiHarpsoftwareversion3.1.0.0iscompatiblewithWindows
1
8.1,10and11asofMarch2022.Windows
7shouldstillworkbutisnolongerofficiallysupported.Alsoconsiderthesecurityrisksofusinganoutdatedop-
eratingsystem.FutureWindowsversionsarelikelytoworkbutobviouslycannotbetestedbeforetheyarere-
leased,andarethereforenotformallysupported.
1  TrademarkofMicrosoftInc.
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