FPGA-based Single Atom Feedback Control Using LabVIEW and NI FlexRIO

Figure 1. Part of a laser system used to study fundamental interactions between light and matter. The system includes a variety of lenses, mirrors, and optical modules.
"Using NI FlexRIO, we customized our own high-performance hardware. Based on LabVIEW FPGA, we were able to quickly develop FPGA code because it has a high degree of generalization and appropriately integrates VHDL IP"

– Christian Sames, Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics

The Challenge:
Develop a custom time-domain digitizer to study fundamental quantum properties of light-matter interactions.

The Solution:
Using NI FlexRIO and the LabVIEW FPGA Module to create powerful, versatile custom instruments that allow us to implement real-time processing for time-critical tasks in hardware. This allows feedback control of extremely small systems, even the interaction of single atoms and single photons.