The Jackson Pollock of THz Photomixing

We tied our engineers to their “socially distanced” desks^* and worked diligently through the pandemic to get the new electronics for our laser heterodyne controller designed and out for manufacture. The new controller is based on the electronics from our PB7220 series of frequency domain THz spectrometers, but they have been improved for use in our avionics-ready, portable, spectroscopic THz sensors. While designed for this specific task, the electronics can be used for any photomixing or optical heterodyne application between DC and 10 THz.

Things that remain the same:

Integrated low power DSP with control software

Calibrated wavelength control of the lasers

Integrated lock-in amplifier

Optical phase control capability

Portable with battery operation

New and improved:

A mass of less than 2 kg (w/ enclosure)

Smaller footprint of 200mm x 200mm x 50mm

4 MB of integrated flash memory

2^nd harmonic detection

Adaptable to various types of DFB laser packages and wavelengths

Direct plug-in for a Raspberry Pi or Asus Tinker board

Designed for -40C to 85C operation

Greater dynamic range on the lock-in detection

… and a circuit layout that could double as a work of impressionist art! 

We are excited to finally see our design become reality! Look for our new and improved line of THz systems premiering this summer.

Bakman Technology instruments are developed specifically for photomixing and are not composed of modular components which are assembled in a rack and operated with Labview. Our electronics are custom-designed and programmed to control the lasers, the phase control, the two-channel lock-in amplifier and the photomixers. This makes them the most compact and energy-efficient product on the market – small enough to fly on a consumer drone.

*No Engineers were harmed in the making of this instrument, we actually had them work from home.