MC1000 In Stock

The ThorLabs MC1000 optical chopper system is a precision instrument that is designed for ultimate chopping stability and drift-free performance. Equipped with microprocessor control and a crystal stabilized phase-locked loop motor control, this chopper system is ideal for meeting the most demanding applications.

The MC1000 comes with a standard 10-slot (36°) chopper blade, which has the capacity to chop from 25 Hz to 1 kHz. It is compatible with a wide range of chopper blades, including two slot, 15 slot, 30 slot, 60 slot, and 2-frequency blades. During the setup of the unit, it is essential to program the MC1000 for the blade that is installed on the chopper head to ensure proper functioning. For experiments that require a single beam to be split and individually modulated, a unique blade with 5 inner slots and 7 outer slots is available. The MC1000 is designed to provide accurate lock-in detection of frequency mixing responses by calculating the sum and difference frequencies of two frequencies in a blade.

The MC1000 features a large LED display with 4-digit display that is easy to read and boasts the capability for monitoring the chopper frequency. The operating modes can be accessed from push-button controls on the front panel that are streamlined. With easy-to-use controls, the MC1000 can be programmed to chop at a harmonic or sub-harmonic of the reference signal. Non-volatile memory enables users to save and quickly recall multiple user setups with ease. The chopper system comes with an RS-232 serial interface as a remote interfacing standard feature with other equipment. By using a PC running an ASCII terminal emulator program, one can access the features of the serial port from a distance. The chopper system also has an interactive menu that can be accessed from the serial port to control the chopper.

The MC1000 is driven by a Swiss-made, high quality, rare earth magnet DC motor. The lightweight optical head is designed with a wide base for added sturdiness and comes with two ¼-20 mounting screws spaced 2” apart. The interface cable uses standard RJ-45 modular connectors for easy setup. Additionally, the MC1000 chopper's PLL speed control circuit provides superior synchronization capabilities. It can easily be locked in phase and frequency to an external reference signal like lock-in amplifiers and multiple chopper configurations. The phase of the MC1000 chopper wheel is continuously adjustable from -π to +π (-180° to +180°).