PicoQuant MultiHarp 150 - Software Overview; Starting the Multiharp Software; The Main Window

PicoQuantGmbH MultiHarpSoftwareV.3.1.0.0
4. Software Overview
4.1. Starting the MultiHarp Software
AftercorrectinstallationtheWindowsStartMenuorthetiledWindowsStartScreencontainsashortcuttothe
MultiHarpsoftware.TostarttheMultiHarpsoftwareselectPicoQuant – MultiHarp vX.X – MultiHarp.Notethat
afterswitchingthedeviceon,youneedtoallowawarm–upperiodofabout20minutesbeforeusingtheinstru-
mentforseriousmeasurements.Youcanusethistimeforset–upandpreliminarymeasurements.
IftheMultiHarpsoftwarecannotfindaMultiHarpdevice(oriftherearedriverproblems)itwilldisplayanotifica-
tionmessage,butitwillstillstart.However,devicedependenttoolbarbuttonsandfunctionsoftheprogramwill
thenbedisabled.ThisallowsyoutousethesoftwarewithouttheMultiHarphardware,e.g.,tovieworprintfiles
onanothercomputer.
ItispossibletouseuptoeightMultiHarpdevicesononePC.Ifmultipledevicesareinstalledthenthefirstin-
stanceofthesoftwarewillconnecttothefirstdevice,thesecondtotheseconddeviceandsoon.Eachofthe
MultiHarpsoftwareinstancesdisplaystheserialnumberofthedeviceituses.Aninstancethatdoesnotfindan
unuseddevicewillopenasafilevieweronly.
Note,thatthevariousinstancesoftheMultiHarpsoftwarewillberunningcompletelyindependentofeachother.
IfyourapplicationrequiressomekindofjointactionofmultipleMultiHarpdevicesthenyoumustdesignyour
ownsoftwarebasedontheMultiHarpprogramminglibraryMHLib(seeseparatemanual).Ifyourobjectiveisto
combinemultipledevicestoobtainmoredetectorchannelsyoumayneedtosynchronizetheclocksofthede-
vices.YoualsoneedtoconsiderthatitisnotpossibletopreventWindowsfromintroducingunpredictabledelays
incommunicationwiththehardware.Thelattermakesitimpossibleto,e.g.,startmeasurementsonmultiplede-
vicesattheexactsametime.SeetheMHLibmanualanddemosforpartialsolutions.
IftheMultiHarpiscorrectlyinstalledandtherearestillhardwarerelatederrors,youcanusetheWindowsdevice
managerfortroubleshooting(seethecorrespondingsectionabove).Ifproblemscannotberesolved,seesec-
tion7forsupport.Ifpossible,trytheusingthedevicewithanothercomputer.
ForregularuseoftheMultiHarpsoftwareyoumaywanttocreateaniconforitonyourWindowsdesktop.You
candothisconvenientlyviaarightmouseclickonthestartmenuentry(send to > Desktop – create shortcut).
AlternativelyusetheWindowsExplorertolocatethefileMultiHarp.exeinthedirectoryyouselectedforin-
stallationanddragtheiconontothedesktop.ThiswillcreatealinktotheMultiHarpexecutablefile.
YoucanalsostartuptheMultiHarpsoftwaredirectlyfromaMultiHarpdatafilebydouble–clickingonthefileor
draggingitontotheMultiHarpicon.NotethatthismaybespoiledifyouhaveotherPicoQuantTCSPCdevices
installedonthesamecomputer.Thefilenameextensionsmaybeassignedtoothersoftware.
4.2. The Main Window
TheMultiHarpsoftwareprovidesameasurementcontrolinterfacetotheMultiHarphardwareandanonlinehis-
togramdisplay.MostprominentlytheMultiHarpmainwindowaccommodatesthehistogramdisplayarea.
Abovethedisplayareaisthetoolbar.Hereyoucanaccessfrequentlyusedcommandsbysimplemouseclicks.
Nexttothetoolbarbuttonsyouseetheserialnumberofthedeviceinuse.Abovethetoolbaristhemenubar
withadditionalcommands.Atthebottomofthehistogramdisplayareaisasetof‘panelmeters’showingcount
rates,countsums,andhistogrampeakcharacteristics.Thesewillbeupdatedcontinuously,someonlywhena
measurementisinprogress.Notetheselectorattherightofthepanelmeters.Thisselectsthedetectorchannel
themetersaredisplaying.InsteadofasinglechannelyoucanalsoselectSum,whichthendisplaysthe
summedratesfromalldetectorchannels.Thepanelmeterscanbeenlargedbydouble-clickingthem,whichis
usefulwhenperformingopticalalignmentorsimilartaskswhenthePCmonitorissomedistanceaway.
Inthetopcenterofthedisplayareaatitlelineisshown.Thiscanbedouble-clickedtoeditthetitle.Whenediting
thetitle,notethatonlythefirstlinewillappearinthedisplay.Theremaininglinesaremeanttobeusedasafile
comment.Alllineswillbestoredwiththefiledata,withamaximumof256characters.
Themainwindowisresizeableandtheactualhistogramdisplaywilladaptitssizeaccordingly.Ifyoumakethe
windowsmallerthantheminimumhistogramdisplay,twoscrollbarswillpermitaccesstohiddenwindowareas.
Notethattheactualsizeofthemainwindowdependsonthesystemfontselected.Itwillscaletothesizeofthe
currentsystemfont.Screenresolutionsbelow800x600arenotsuitableforseriousworkwiththesoftware.
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