THORLABS LC1 - USB User manual

Operation Manual
Thorlabs
LC1-USB
USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera
2005

Version: 2.0
Date: 28-Nov-05
Copyright©2005, Thorlabs GmbH, Germany

Contents Page
1. Introduction 10
2. Installation 10
2.1. Parts List 10
2.2. Connections 10
2.3. USB Port Requirements 10
2.4. Installing the Application Software 11
2.5. Installing Software for Developers 12
3. Spectra Software 13
3.1. Quick Start 13
3.2. First Time Start 15
3.2.1. The Main Toolbar 16
3.2.2. Getting Your First Line Scan 17
3.2.3. Scroll Bars 17
3.3. Layers 17
3.3.1. Layer Control 18
3.3.2. Layer Changing Example 19
3.3.3. Current Layer 22
3.3.4. Averaging & Smoothing 22
3.3.4.1. Averaging 22
3.3.4.2. Smoothing 22
3.3.5. Peak Finder 23
3.3.6. Gaussian Transform 23
3.3.6.1. Gaussian Plot 24
3.3.6.2. Gaussian Distribution of a Beam 24
3.3.7. Mathematical Functions 28
3.3.8. 3D View 28
3.3.9. Cursors 29
3.4. Storing and Retrieving Data 30
3.5. Multi-Save Storage Feature 31
3.6. Collecting Event Driven Data using Ext. Trigger Mode 32
4. Troubleshooting 32
4.1. In the Win2000 and XP Operating System 32
4.2. In the Win98 and ME Operating System 33
4.3. Run the LC1-USB Program 33

5. LC1-USB Specifications 36
5.1. Dimensions 37
6. Addresses 38
7. Warranty 39
7.1. WEEE 40
7.1.1. Waste treatment on your own responsibility 40
7.1.2. Ecological background 41

We aim to develop and produce the best solution for your application in the
field of optical measurement technique. To help us to come up to your
expectations and develop our products permanently we need your ideas and
suggestions. Therefore, please let us know about possible criticism or ideas.
We and our international partners are looking forward to hearing from you.
Thorlabs GmbH
This part of the instruction manual contains specific information on how to operate an
LC1–USB, USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera manually and by remote control.
*Attention*
This manual contains “WARNINGS” and “ATTENTION” label in this
form, to indicate dangers for persons or possible damage of
equipment.
Please read these advises carefully!
NOTE
This manual also contains “NOTES” and “HINTS” written in this form.

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera/ Page 10
1. Introduction
The LC1-USB is a line camera that is designed for general laboratory use. Integrated
routines allows averaging, smoothing, peak finding, as well as saving and recalling
data sets.
The initial setup is simple to complete. Following installation of the software, the
LC1-USB is ready to use. Simply plug it into a USB 2.0 port and run the application.
The remainder of this manual is devoted to the setup procedure and features of the
Line Camera. A troubleshooting section and detailed specifications of the various
components are provided to further assist.
2. Installation
2.1. Parts List
Below is a list of all components shipped with the LC1-USB:
Qty. Description
1 LC1-USB - USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera
1 LC1-USB - User Manual
1 CD-ROM with LC1-USB Software
1 USB 2.0 A-B Cable, 2 Meter
2.2. Connections
The LC1-USB must NOT be connected to your PC while the software is being
installed.
Once the software has been installed, connect the host connector of the USB cable
to the USB 2.0 port (or USB1.1 port) on your PC and the device connector of the
USB cable to the LC1-USB and run the LC1-USB application program.
2.3. USB Port Requirements
To achieve the maximum performance benefit from your LC1-USB, you must have a
dedicated USB2.0 port available on your PC (a built in USB2.0 port is
recommended ). A USB 1.1 port may be used with a degraded level of performance.

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera/ page 11
2.4. Installing the Application Software
Insert the CD-ROM. The Installation Menu program should launch automatically and
show up with:
If not, browse to the CDROM directory \Autorun and run the program Autorun.exe.
Mouse click on the “Install Software” menu button to install the application program
“Spectra”. To install the USB driver for the LC1-USB, make sure the LC1-USB is
NOT plugged-in to a USB port then click on the “Install Jungo” menu button. For
Windows 9X systems, the menu program cannot be used to install the driver.
Instead, open a DOS window and CD to the CDROM directory \USB\Utilities and run
the batch program man_install_9x.bat.

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera / page 12
2.5. Installing Software for Developers
Thorlabs provides instrument drivers (API) for developers who want to integrate the
LC1-USB in their own software. The instrument drivers provided here are based on
National Instruments™ VISA technology. Thorlabs provides a driver for National
Instruments™ LabWindows/CVI™ and LabVIEW™ programming environments as
well as for Microsoft™ and Borland™ compilers. All of these drivers need VISA to be
installed. From the website of National Instruments™ (www.ni.com/visa) you can
download two different versions of VISA (a fully featured version “NI-VISA” and a
runtime only version “VISA-Runtime engine”). The minimum version to run the
examples provided on the CD is the “VISA-Runtime engine” which is included on the
CD. However you may find it very helpful to have the full version “NI-VISA” installed
while you are developing your software. Please make sure to follow the license
conditions of National Instruments™ when you use the full version of “NI-VISA”.
A note on USB
USB devices are recognized by the host through their identifiers VID ( vendor
identifier ) and PID ( product identifier ). These IDs are 16bit unsigned integer values.
Thorlabs’ PID is 1313HEX .The factory setting for the LC1-USB is 0010HEX and this is
the PID used by the Jungo™–USB drivers and spectra. For use with VISA the PID
for the LC1-USB has to be changed to 0110HEX . There is a small tool on the CD
called ‘LC1-USB PID Changer Tool’ that is built for exactly this purpose. Since this
tool can access the LC1-USB regardless of its current PID both USB drivers Jungo™
and VISA have to be installed. Please install this tool and change the PID of the LC1-
USB to 0110HEX for VISA if you intend to use the instrument drivers provided.
By clicking on ‘Install VISA drivers’ of the CDs Autorun Menu you will install the
instrument drivers together with a sample application on your PC. The drivers will be
installed below C:\VXIPNP\WinNT\Thorlabs_LC1_Drv. Make sure that you have
installed VISA before attempting to run the sample applications.

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera/ page 13
3. Spectra Software
3.1. Quick Start
Assuming that all of the installation instructions have been followed, it is now time to
run the line camera software.
Go to the Start Menu ⇒Thorlabs ⇒spectra.exe. The screen that appears is as
follows:
Note: The message "No Device" appears in the status bar. This indicates the LC1-USB is
not connected to a USB port.

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera / page 14
Once the LC1-USB has been connected to a USB port, the display should resemble
the following:
Note: Status bar indicates the LC1-USB device "My LC1-USB" is attached.
The status bar shows there is an LC1-USB device attached with the Device Label
"My LC1-USB". You may change the Device Label by pulling down the Display menu
and opening to "Set Device Label".

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera/ page 15
The following dialog box will appear:
To change the label, click on the edit window above Device Label, type the new
label, and click OK.
Note: The label can only be modified while the LC1-USB is in the idle state.
3.2. First Time Start
If this is the first time starting the line camera there are a couple of settings that must
be checked. Left-click on System ⇒Set-Up on the menu bar.
The following menu will appear:

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera / page 16
The Type of System must be set to LC1. The default setting of the Maximum Open
Plot Windows is five, which should work well on most systems. Each plot window
consumes memory; so on systems without much RAM, this number should be
lowered.
One-Shot poll mode active should not be checked unless the LC1-USB will be used
for single shot data. SPA ( Samples per Average ) and Integration Time are arbitrarily
set since they can be controlled actively in the main window.
3.2.1. The Main Toolbar
Below are descriptions of each of the buttons:
The GO button starts polling of the line camera.
The STOP button stops polling of the line camera.
SPA stands for samples per average. When the SPA is set at
one, there is no averaging occurring. Any number greater than one represents the
number of samples averaged together for the data displayed.
Int. Time is the
integration time. This represents how sensitive
the CCD is to incoming light. CCD pixels act
like light buckets, gathering photons. The
integration time display represents how many
milliseconds the bucket is open. For very
bright sources, low integration times are
required, whereas for weak sources, longer
integration times should be used. As in the
light bucket analogy, CCD pixels can be
overfilled. This is called saturation and will
cause the output to be misleading.
TOOLBAR TIP
The mouse with +/- symbols can
be used to quickly change the value of
the quantity associated with it. Move
the pointer over the icon and press
the left button. While holding the
button down, moving the mouse up
increases the value, and moving the
mouse down decreases the value.
Button down, moving the mouse up
increases the value, and moving the
mouse down decreases the value

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera/ page 17
Toolbar Settings are manipulated by this pair of buttons. The button on the
left controls the orientation of the tool bar and the button on the right controls its
length.
3.2.2. Getting Your First Line Scan
With an understanding of the main toolbar, it is easy to bring up your first data. If no
plot window appears in the line camera main window, first go to Display ⇒New Plot
Window. With light being fed into the line camera and SPA set to one, click on the
GO icon. If there is no signal, increase the integration time until a signal starts to
appear. Once a signal is attained, there are ways to zoom in on it. This is explained
in the next section on scroll bars.
3.2.3. Scroll Bars
Scroll bars are used to scale the graphical output in the plot
window. The image to the right shows a portion of the vertical
scroll bar. The vertical scroll bar controls the relative amplitude
of the peaks of a line scan that is being viewed. Move the cursor
around the bar. The cursor symbol will change from to
when the cursor is in a position to change the vertical scale.
While in that position, hold down the left button and move the
cursor up and down noting the change in the scale. Changes in
the vertical scroll bar affect the amplitude and changes in the
horizontal scroll bar affect the position range. At the top of the
plot window, a button bar appears as indicated.
3.3. Layers
One of the unique features of the software for the LC1-USB is the ability to see
the raw data while performing mathematical functions on various other layers. At the
top of the plot window, a button bar appears as indicated.

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera / page 18
3.3.1. Layer Control
The Detailed Layers Adjustment icon is used to
access the layer control menu. It allows for general control of all layers. Additional
layers and controls on existing layers may be specified here. The following sample
menu is displayed:
This menu allows for the user to add and remove layers as well as control the display
features of each layer.
The bulb represents whether or not the layer is displayed in the plot window.
represents that the layer is on and represents that it is off.
The lock specifies whether the layer may be changed. is unchangeable and
may be changed.
This function allows access to another menu that controls the math functions acting
on the data. Any layer, with the exception of Layer0, may be made up of existing
layers in combination.
The Add button adds a new layer to the end of the list of layers. The Insert button
inserts a layer above the selected layer. The Remove button removes the selected
layer ( CCD input layer cannot be removed ).

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera/ page 19
Later sections of the manual go into more detail with the mathematics, but it is
worthwhile to mention here that +, -, * and / are all acceptable functions. For
example, Layer3 might equal Layer2*Layer0 /Layer1 +Layer1. The math submenu
appears as follows:
3.3.2. Layer Changing Example
As a simple example, here are the steps so the input line is doubled:
Step 1: Click on the icon in order to bring
up the layer control menu. In the example, there
were no previous layers, so only Layer0
appeared. If there are other layers, it is simple
to highlight them and remove them. The screen
that comes up looks as follows:
Step 2: Click on the Add button as in the
picture and Layer1 will appear that can now be
used to display the math function.
Step 3: Click on the math symbol as in the
illustration. This will bring up the math menu for
Layer1.

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera / page 20
Step 4: The math menu should appear as
follows:
Layer1 will be Layer0 *2. First select layer for
calculation, then click Insert. Next, select the *
button. Finally, type in the number 2.
The end result should appear as follows:
Step 5: This will bring us back to the layer
control menu. Click on the color for Layer1 to
bring up the color menu. This allows the choice
of color for the display. To change the color,
click on the color square, or use the RGB ( red,
green, blue ) sliders to make a new color.
Step 6: To change the line type that Layer1 will
display in, click on the line for Layer1 as shown
to the right. This will allow a number of different
choices. Then click on OK to continue
The following page will show the results of the above actions on a profile of a laser
module’s collimated beam.

LC1 – USB / USB 2.0 CCD Line Camera/ page 21
In the diagram, Layer0 is
turned on and shows a laser
profile.
In this diagram, Layer1 is green
and turned on. The arithmetic
used to derive Layer1 is
2*Layer0
To better see the two separate layers the plot window can
be shifted into 3D mode. To do this, move the cursor to
the origin where there is a small red dot. When the cursor
is over the small red dot, it will change from to. At this
point, hold down the left mouse button and move the
cursor towards the center of the plot window. This will
cause the plot to fold out in 3D.
The resulting effect should
look like this image. More
about 3D views will be
discussed later in the manual.