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Nikita Vladimirov edited this page Sep 6, 2024 · 7 revisions

Preparing the mesoSPIM ETL drivers

This process is identical to the mesoSPIM V4/5 instructions. The mesoSPIM uses two electrically tunable lenses by Optotune to control the waist position of the excitation light-sheet (one in each excitation arm). The drivers (Optotune Lens Driver 4i) need to be modified with an BNC to analog input cable to allow control of the lenses via the National Instruments DAQmx analog outputs.

Documentation and Software for the lens drivers are available.

Necessary parts and tools

  • 2x Lens Driver 4i
  • 2x BNC Female connectors with wire leads soldered to the GND and signal pins
  • Screwdriver
  • Soldering equipment
  • An adjustable 0-5 V source, this can be NI-DAQmx controlled or a function generation
  • 1x BNC cable

Modification of the Lens Driver 4i

Overview of the opened lens drivers:

All necessary components

  1. Open the Lens Driver housing at the Hirose connectors and remove the cover (see part 2.5. of the Optotune documentation)
  2. Push the wires through the opening at the bottom near the Hirose connector
  3. Solder the signal wire to the Analog In B pin (labeling is on the bottom of the PCB)
  4. Solder the GND wire to the GND pin (unlabeled pin next to the "Analog In A" and "Analog In B" pins )
  5. Close the housing

Lens driver with input

Soldered driver

Software control

  1. Connect the lens driver to a PC via a USB port
  2. Run the "Lens Driver Controller Software"
  3. Connect to the lens
  4. Attach the function generator to the BNC input you soldered using a BNC cable
  5. In Extras/Sensor Control Configuration, enter the following values by setting the lens to the corresponding current and applying the corresponding voltage to the analog input, save using "Record Entry"
Analog IN Current
0 (OV) -292 mA (minimum)
512 (2.5V) 0 mA
1023 (5V) 292 mA
  1. Switch operation to "Analog" mode and test e.g. with a sinusoidal signal whether the lens can be controlled from the function generator
  2. Set the lens drivers to analog mode permanently using one of the methods below:
  • method 1: Unplug the driver from the USB port without closing the connection in the Optotune software.
  • method 2 (new): run the Optotune-provided utility exe-file. (credits to Optotune and Kai Schleicher)
  1. Connect the driver to a powered USB hub (no connection to a PC) and test whether the lens can be controlled with an analog input
  2. Repeat all steps with the second driver
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