4204 Teledyne Multi-Source, Time Interval Meter Module

The Teledyne / LeCroy 4204 / 4208 Time Digitizer Modules offer precise, fast measurements of time intervals in a large variety of industrial, government laboratory and university research environments. Applications for these time digitizers include time-of-flight spectroscopy, particle beam accelerator monitoring, laser induced chemical studies, and digital signal analysis.

Electronic time interval measurement involves digitizing the time between two or more pulses. The first pulse is usually called START and the latter called STOP. For many devices, a single COMMON input is used, against which INDIVIDUAL inputs are timed. Other configurations may also be employed. A MULTIHIT digitizer accepts a COMMON input, then digitizes several INDIVIDUAL pulses which arrive on the same cable. A second variation is called MULTISOURCE, where inputs are present but only the first to arrive is digitized.

The 4204 Multi-Source, Time Interval Meter is a general purpose time measurement instrument designed for research and industrial monitoring applications requiring fast encoding or conversion times, high precision, and long time ranges. In less than a microsecond, the 4204 encodes the measured time interval into a 32-bi word. By selecting the required resolution (down to 156.2 psec), a specific subset of 24 bits of the data word may be read. Several overflow options are including and both the designated overflow and an overall data offset can be set via CAMAC control.

The 4208 Wide Range, Octal Time Digitizer is designed to cover applications where time measurements must be performed in real time, and which require wide dynamic range with high resolution. The 4208 has eight independent channels, each one measures the time from the leading edge of a COMMON input to the leading edge of its INDIVIDUAL input pulse.