How does the Model 3501 optical chopper minimize jitter and drift?
For stable chopping with minimum jitter and drift, the Model 3501 optical chopper uses precision photo-etched wheels mounted on a high-quality DC motor. In addition, the chopper controller has its own internal crystal-controlled frequency synthesizer and phase-locked loop for precisely locking the chopping frequency. A photo-interrupter on the chopper head monitors the chopping frequency, and the chopper controller actively stabilizes the motor speed to ensure stable chopping with a minimum of frequency drift. In internal-reference mode, the chopper controller uses its internal frequency synthesizer as the reference. When the Model 3501 is operated in external-reference mode, the chopping rate is locked to the user-provided reference from another chopper or signal source. The chopper may also be run asynchronously with the rear-panel analog-control-voltage input. In all cases, the frequency-synthesizer output is available on the front panel for use in your measurement setup. The refere
