Shutters

When controlled with analog, digital, or mixed modulation, not all laser sources reduce their emitted intensity to 0. In such cases, residual illumination subjects the specimen to unnecessary irradiation between image acquisitions. Shutters overcome this by completely blocking the laser, albeit on a much slower timescale than direct modulation of the laser. With navigate, shutters automatically open at the start of acquisition and close upon finish.

---

Analog/Digital-Controlled Shutters

Thorlabs shutters are controlled via a digital on off voltage.

Configuration File

microscopes:
  microscope_name:
      shutter:
        hardware:
          type: NI
          channel: PXI6249/port0/line0
          min: 0.0
          max: 5.0

---

Synthetic Shutter

If no shutter is present, one must configure the software to use a synthetic shutter.

Configuration File

microscopes:
  microscope_name:
      shutter:
        hardware:
          type: synthetic
          channel: PXI6249/port0/line0
          min: 0.0
          max: 5.0