Educational scanning Michelson interferometer

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi,
I am setting up an experiment for Physics undergraduates, which is basically a scanning Michelson interferometer Michelson interferometer - Wikipedia as a replica of a gravitational wave detector.
I would like to use Arduino as the core electronics that control all the experiment, both for simplicity, price and for the open-source philosophy behind.
More in details I need:

  1. Optical Detection:
    I will assemble a simple amplification circuit of a silicon photodiode http://thorlabs.com/NewGroupPage9.cfm?ObjectGroup_ID=285 to measure ~1mW of red laser light with a time resolution of ~1 kHz

  2. Simple oscilloscope: a voltage reader to read the signal from the photodiode (I will try the Arduinoscope http://code.google.com/p/arduinoscope/)

  3. Piezo scan: I will glue a mirror on a scanning piezo to change the length of interferometer by 1-2 microns with a resolution of ~50 nm.
    I could use STr25/500/6 (see attached pdf)
    but it needs a voltage amplifier (500V) and a function generator to drive it (a 500 Hz sine wave would do).
    This could be achieved by a commercial piezo driver like the LE150/100 EBW which will cost ~3-4000 euro (see attached pdf)

I guess that 1 and 2 can be done easily with an Arduino, do you think that also 3 can be done?

piezo_based_optomechanics.pdf (972 KB)

electronic_supplies_for_piezomechanics_technical_data.pdf (1.15 MB)

2

and a function generator to drive it (a 500 Hz sine wave would do).

The basic arduino has no DAC so it cannot create a sine wave itself so you need an external DAC (e.g. from sparkfun.com).

If you want an arduino to generate a sine wave of 500Hz it needs to send all individual values to the DAC. if you want a smooth sine you need lets say 360 values per wave making 180.000 signals per second!! This is on the edge of what is possible with arduino -> Use lookup tables, no float math etc

3

I think I will use the Arduino DUE which has two DAC.

Regarding the speed, I should probably settle for 100 Hz then...
Instead for the data acquisition I have read that 10kHz are possible, do you agree?

4

I don't know the specs of the DUE, but an UNO is able to do the 1000 analog reads per second, for a DUE it would be even more possible.

be aware that the DUE does 3.3Volt (IIRC) where the UNO does 5V.

5

Perfect, so the sinewave and the reading at 1kHz are ok.
The Arduino DUE has two DAC http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDue, but I cannot find the maximal practical voltage reading speed.

Do you think that it is possible to make a stable voltage amplifier to 500V? as commercial electronic cost various 1000s euros I am wandering if there is something I am neglecting...

Cheers!
R.