Oct 23 2014
Less than three years after the introduction of its high-end signal processing platform UHFLI Lock-in Amplifier, Zurich Instruments (ZI) is proceeding with the next integration step and offering a new fully featured digitizer option for the UHFLI. This latest extension is the first time that a lock-in amplifier has been equipped with the capability of storing a raw digitized signal along with demodulated samples.
The new product option is called the UHF-DIG Digitizer and offers competitive specifications when compared to high-resolution digitizers. As the UHF-DIG option is always paired with a high-performance lock-in amplifier, it cannot be purchased independently and therefore is not intended to compete against general purpose digitizers. Instead, Zurich Instruments addresses the niche applications that profit from the unique integration of time-domain (digitizer) and frequency domain (lock-in amplifier) instrumentation, and always supported by its groundbreaking LabOne - All in One analysis software.
"Digitizer users will love the UHF-DIG because our LabOne interface is way beyond what digitizer manufacturers provide to their customers" mentioned Stephan Koch, VP Marketing & Sales. He was referring to the unique integration of tools and programming interfaces provided by ZI to all users and how differentiating this would be in the traditional digitizer market. Jürg Schwizer, Head of Software Development at ZI, said "Whenever in the past I tried to connect an oscilloscope to a computer, I ran into trouble. That gave me the motivation to do it better". The result is a plug & measure instrument that combines lock-in amplifier, digitizer and oscilloscope in a single user interface and programming environment.
Zurich Instruments has always aimed to provide research laboratories with the most inspiring and useful instruments, in terms of their performance and usability. This is achieved by learning from the measurement challenges of scientists and understanding the reasons for combining instruments in the way they do.
The UHF-DIG Digitizer option will be on display at all major physics, photonics and material research trade shows in the coming months including the 2014 MRS (Material Research Society) Fall meeting in Boston, Photonics West 2015 in San Francisco, the APS (American Physical Society) March Meeting 2015 in San Antonio and the DPG 2015 (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft) conference in Berlin.
Zurich Instruments makes lock-in amplifiers, boxcar averagers, digitizers, phase-locked loops and impedance spectroscopes that have revolutionized instrumentation in the high-frequency (HF) and ultra-high-frequency (UHF) ranges by combining frequency-domain tools and time-domain tools within each product. This reduces the complexity of laboratory setups, removes sources of problems and provides new measurement approaches that support the progress of research.