Microprocessor-Controlled Data Acquisition System for Pulsed Laser Spectroscopy

Abstract
Pulsed laser systems produce spectroscopic signals with large shot-to-shot variations, short durations, and low duty cycles. The most satisfactory signal processing system is gated integration, with pulse averaging and ratioing to a reference signal. We describe a system based on commercially available modular integrators and a hobbyist microcomputer which performs the averaging and ratioing digitally. System performance is equal to or better than that of fully analog systems, while the cost is low and construction is straightforward.