Hardware
Input channels
The Time Tagger has 8 or 18 input channels (SMA-connectors). The electrical characteristics are tabulated below. Both rising and falling edges are detected on the input channels. In the software, rising edges correspond to channel numbers 1 to 18 (Time Tagger 20: 1 to 8) and falling edges correspond to respective channel numbers -1 to -18 (Time Tagger 20: -1 to -8). Thereby, you can treat rising and falling edges in a fully equivalent fashion.
Electrical characteristics
Property |
Time Tagger 20 |
Time Tagger Ultra |
Time Tagger X |
|---|---|---|---|
Termination |
50 Ohm |
50 Ohm |
50 Ohm / High-Z |
Input voltage range |
0.0 to 5.0 V |
-5.0 to 5.0 V |
-1.5 to 1.5 V |
Trigger level range |
0.0 to 2.5 V |
-2.5 to 2.5 V |
-1 to 1 V |
Minimum signal level |
100 mV |
100 mV |
100 mV |
Minimum pulse width |
1.0 ns |
0.5 ns |
350 ps |
Configurable input termination - Time Tagger X only
The input termination of the Time Tagger X can be configured during runtime to either 50 Ohm or High-Z (see TimeTagger.setInputImpedanceHigh()).
Usually 50 Ohm should be chosen to accomplish proper HF termination, but High-Z is useful in certain use cases with small amplitudes and weak output drivers.
Caution
When the Time Tagger X is unpowered or not configured (before createTimeTagger() has been called), the input termination is High-Z.
This is to protect the Time Taggers input stage from potentially damaging operating conditions (e.g. signals into an unpowered input stage).
Upon initialization, the termination will switch to 50 Ohm by default.
One of the following measures can be taken when connecting signal sources to the Time Tagger X which are sensitive to operation without termination:
The signal source is only operated after the Time Tagger X is powered and configured properly. The Time Tagger’s input termination is set to 50 Ohm.
An external 50 Ohm termination is connected between SMA cable and the Time Tagger’s input port. The Time Tagger’s input termination is set to High-Z.
An HF circulator or isolator is connected to the output of the signal source to prevent any potentially damaging reflections from getting into the output.
High Resolution Mode
The Time Tagger Ultra Performance can operate in different High Resolution (HighRes) modes. An increased resolution is achieved by directing the signal from a single input to multiple time-to-digital converters (TDCs). Depending on the mode, 2, 4, or 8 TDCs are used per input. By averaging the results, a single timestamp with lower jitter is generated. On the other hand, this process reduces the number of usable signal inputs.
The table shows the usable inputs for the different modes. Channels available with the minimal four-channel license are shown without parenthesis. Further channels are added from the list in parenthesis in the HighRes column first and added in the Standard resolution column if the amount of HighRes channels are exhausted.
Mode |
HighRes channels |
Standard channels |
|---|---|---|
Standard |
1 - 4, (5 - 18) |
|
HighResA |
1, 3, 5, 7, (10, 12, 14, 16) |
(9, 18) |
HighResB |
1, 5, 10, 14 |
(9, 18) |
HighResC |
5, 14 |
9, 18 |
Note
As a result of the averaging process, the quality of the calculated timestamps is affected by relative changes of internal delays of the contributing inputs. These delays are affected especially by the temperature of the device. It is strongly recommended to let the device heat up for at least 10 s before starting a measurement. Constant average count rates (averaged over the timescale of hundreds of milliseconds) will provide the best results. If you need more information on this topic, please contact us via support@swabianinstruments.com.
Data connection
The Time Tagger 20 is powered via a USB connection. Therefore, you should ensure that the USB port is capable of providing the full specified current (500 mA). A USB >= 2.0 data connection is required for the performance specified here. Operating the device via a USB hub is strongly discouraged. The Time Tagger 20 can stream about 8 M tags per second.
The Time Tagger Ultra and Time Tagger X has a USB 3.0 interface. This allows to stream up to 70 M tags per second to the PC. The actual number highly depends on the performance of the CPU the Time Tagger is connected to and the evaluation methods involved.
In addition, the Time Tagger X is equipped with an SPF+ Port (10 GbE), which can be used for streaming up to 300 M tags per second.
LEDs
The Time Tagger devices have LEDs showing status information.
Time Tagger X
On its front panel, the Time Tagger X has an LED inside the power button and individual channel status LEDs:
Power Button |
|
|---|---|
Color |
Description |
blue |
Device in standby, press button to turn it on |
green |
Device running |
orange |
Device is getting ready |
red |
An error occurred |
Channel LEDs |
|
|---|---|
Color |
Description |
dark |
Channel unavailable (according to your license) |
blue |
Channel available but not used by a measurement |
solid green |
Measurement running but no data within last 2 s |
blinking green |
Time tags are streamed to the PC. Blinking frequency indicates data rate |
blinking orange |
Overflow |
solid red |
Error |
Time Tagger Ultra and Time Tagger 20
The “Power” LED turns green when the power is supplied to the device.
Status LED |
|
|---|---|
Color |
Description |
solid green |
Firmware loaded |
blinking green-orange |
Time tags are streaming |
red |
Overflows occurred. LED turns red for 0.1 s on every overflow event. Solid red indicates continuous overflows. |
solid blue |
Device initialization failed (check USB connection) |
Additional LEDs on Time Tagger X and Time Tagger Ultra
Other RGB LEDs show the additional status information tabulated below. They are located on the front panel of the Time Tagger Ultra and the rear panel of the Time Tagger X.
LED next to the CLK input (if available) |
|
|---|---|
Color |
Description |
dark |
No clock signal |
solid green |
Valid reference or synchronization clock |
solid red |
Invalid reference frequency |
solid blue |
Ext. clock valid, but not in use |
blinking red * |
Invalid signal at SYNC IN (AUX IN 1) |
blinking yellow * |
Invalid signal at LOOP IN (AUX IN 2) |
LED next to the SYNC IN input |
|
|---|---|
Color |
Description |
dark |
No synchronizer on CLK input |
green |
Valid signal at SYNC IN |
red |
Invalid signal at SYNC IN |
LED next to the LOOP IN input |
|
|---|---|
Color |
Description |
dark |
No synchronizer on CLK input |
green |
Valid signal at LOOP IN |
red |
Invalid signal at LOOP IN |
Test signal
The Time Tagger has a built-in test signal generator that generates a square wave with a frequency in the range 0.8 to 1.0 MHz. You can apply the test signal to any input channel instead of an external input. This is especially useful for testing, calibrating and setting up the Time Tagger initially. The Time Tagger X also provides the opportunity to put out two square wave signals with a variable frequency via the AUX Out Ports on the back of the device.
Virtual channels
The architecture allows you to create virtual channels, e.g., creating a new channel representing the sum of two channels (logical OR), or coincidence clicks of two channels (logical AND).
Synthetic input delay
You can introduce an input delay for each channel independently. This is useful if the relative timing between two channels is important, e.g., to compensate for propagation delay in cables of unequal length. The input delay can be set individually for rising and for falling edges.
Synthetic dead time
You can introduce a synthetic dead time for each channel independently. This is useful when you want to suppress consecutive clicks that are closely separated, e.g., to suppress after-pulsing of avalanche photodiodes or as a simple way of data rate reduction. The dead time can be set individually for rising and for falling edges in each channel.
Conditional Filter
The Conditional Filter allows you to decrease the time tag rate without losing those time tags that are relevant to your application, for instance, where you have a high-frequency signal applied to at least one channel. Examples include fluorescence lifetime measurements or optical quantum information and cryptography, where you want to capture synchronization clicks from a high repetition rate excitation laser.
To reduce the data rate, you discard all synchronization clicks, except those that follow after one of your low rate detector clicks, thereby forming a reduced time tag stream. The software processes the reduced time tag stream in the exact same fashion as the full time tag stream.
This feature is enabled by the Conditional Filter. As all channels on your Time Tagger are fully equivalent, you can specify which channels are filtered and which channels are used as triggers that enable the transmission of a subsequent tag on the filtered channels.
Note
In Time Tagger 20, the software-defined input delays, as set by the method
setInputDelay(), do not apply to the Conditional Filter logic.
More details and explanations can be found in the In Depth Guide: Conditional Filter.
Bin equilibration
The discretization of electrical signals is never perfect. In time-to-digital conversion, this manifests
as small differences (few ps) in the bin sizes inside the converter that even varies from chip to chip.
This imperfection is inherent to any time-to-digital conversion hardware.
It is usually not apparent to the user. However, when correlations between two channels are measured on short
time scales, you might see this as a weak periodic ripple on top of your signal.
We reduce the effect of this in the software at the cost of a decrease in
the time resolution by 
. This feature is enabled by default. If your application requires time resolution down to the jitter limit,
you can disable this feature.
Overflows
The Time Tagger 20 is capable of continuous streaming of about 8 M tags per second on average.
For the Time Tagger Ultra, continuous tags streamed can exceed 70 M tags per second depending on the CPU the Time Tagger is attached to and the evaluation methods involved.
Higher data rates for short times will be buffered internally so that no overflow occurs.
This internal buffer is limited, therefore, if continuous higher data rates arise, data loss occurs and parts of the time tags are lost. The hardware allows you to check with timeTagger.getOverflows() whether an overflow condition
has occurred. If no overflow is returned, you can be confident that every time tag is received.
Note
When overflows occur, Time Tagger will still produce valid data blocks and discard the invalid tags in between. Your measurement data may still be valid, although your acquisition time will likely increase.
External Clock Input - Time Tagger Ultra and Time Tagger X only
Note
An alternative and more flexible way to apply an external clock signal is the use of TimeTaggerBase.setSoftwareClock().
Since software version 2.10, the software clock is recommended for applying an external clock.
The external clock input can be used to synchronize different Time Tagger devices. The input clock frequency must be 10 or 500 MHz. The CLK input requires between 100 and 4 Vpp AC coupled into 50 Ohm, 500 mVpp is recommended. The lock status can be read off the LED color: If the CLK LED shines green, the Time Tagger is locked and uses the provided clock. If the LED is blue, a valid frequency is supplied, however, the Time Tagger is still configured to use the internal clocking source. In case of a wrong or unstable frequency, the LED will shine red.
Performance:
The input clock signal must have a very low jitter to provide the specified performance of the Time Tagger. Please note that the timing specifications for the Time Tagger Ultra with respect to other devices on the same clock are only met from hardware version 2.3 on.
Caution
In order to reach the specified input jitter for the Time Tagger with an external clock, the input signals must be uncorrelated to the external clock.
This restriction does not exist for TimeTaggerBase.setSoftwareClock().
Synchronization signals - Time Tagger Ultra and Time Tagger X only
Up to 8 Time Tagger Ultra and/or Time Tagger X units can be synchronized in such a way that they behave like a unified Time Tagger. This requires additional hardware, the Swabian Synchronizer. The Synchronizer uses the additional hardware connections: SYNC IN, LOOP IN, LOOP OUT and FDBK OUT (see Synchronizer).
Warning
On Time Tagger Ultra units sold before September 2020, the synchronization signals use the ports labeled AUX IN 1, AUX IN 2, AUX OUT 1, AUX OUT 2. A mapping of the signal names is included in the Synchronizer documentation (see Synchronizer). If you own one of these units and would like to have a sticker to update your labels, please reach out to Swabian Instruments support .
FPGA link - Time Tagger X only
The Ethernet based FPGA link can be used for connecting customer FPGA designs directly to the Time Tagger X. Both a SFP+ and a QSFP+ connector are available for this on the back of the Time Tagger X, labeled as such. Currently only the SFP+ connector is active and should be connected to customer designs using either a conventional DAC or fiber transceiver. More details and explanations can be found in the In Depth Guide: FPGA link.
General purpose IO (GPIO) - Time Tagger Ultra only
Starting from the Time Tagger v2.6.6, the general purpose inputs and outputs on Time Tagger Ultra are used for synchronization signals. New Time Tagger Ultra devices will have updated labeling of these IO ports. See, Synchronizer
General purpose IO (GPIO) - Time Tagger 20 only
The Time Tagger 20 is equipped with four general purpose io ports that interface directly with the system’s FPGA. These are reserved for future implementations.