For universities & researchers

Universities are often faced with limited funding. Performing cutting-edge research and contributing internationally can be very challenging. Besides the cost of research, universities and researches have to attract students both on pre- and post-graduate level.

Electronic equipment too expensive or unavailable?

Over the years we have worked closely together with several universities and university departments. There are many new and exciting ideas, but often there is not enough funding to acquire the needed specialised hardware and instrumentation. In some cases equipment is used that can do the job, but it is not efficient or requires hard work to get satisfactory results. The Sveta III project is an example were we provided a solution for such a problem. In other cases the commercial equipment is too expensive and the cheaper alternatives are too general and have inferior specifications. We understand these problems and would like to help.

Struggling with old equipment?

To modernise laboratories (both for pre- and post-graduate level) often requires the use of modern data loggers and PCs. There are numerous options on the market today, including some powerful software packages (e.g. LabView). These solutions, however, can also be expensive and require PCs with adequate performance. Synertronic Designs has developed cheaper alternatives. The Skorost range of data loggers offer a flexible alternative at affordable prices.

Spectroscopy and photonics

Research in spectroscopy and other laser-based diagnostics are continuously pushing the limits of optical sensors (e.g. CMOS and CCD linear array and area sensors). There are several high-quality linear array cameras on the market. However, they are costly and are often not application-specific. Development for a camera system was started in 2014 in collaboration with Bern University, Switzerland.

Linear array cameras

The Glaz linear array cameras were designed with specific use cases in mind. It offers a flexible and scalable platform at reduced cost. The cameras are USB devices and do not require any PC acquisition cards. Besides high-quality linear array cameras, the system includes application-specific firmware and software options. The system can be tailored for the following applications:

1. Multi-camera fs-TAS (PulseSync systems)
2. General spectroscopy (SpectroCam systems)

Using our tailored solutions, greatly simplifies integration into measurement systems. Camera hardware is also available as OEM modules for commercial applications.

Beam profiling

The Glaz-BP is an affordable beam-profiling camera. The complexity of the beam-profiling PC user-interface has been reduced and features automatic beam orientation detection.

Motion control

The Uragan range of stepper motor drivers was introduced in 2012. Since then, the range has grown and now includes high-, medium- and low-power stepper motor drivers, as well as a multi-axis controller. All devices can be interfaced via USB and several parameters can be configured either via LabView or Uragan Studio. Parameters include motor current, speed, acceleration, micro-stepping, etc.

Combining data acquisition and motion control

All Uragan motor drivers feature configurable input ports and can be used as event counters, quadrature decoders or even voltage loggers. It is possible to perform motion control and data logging with a single device. Applications range from monochromator-based spectroscopy measurements and interferometry to general motion-dependent measurements.

Flexibility and scalability

The Uragan motor drivers can be configured in several different ways. For example, the drivers can be configured to operate with external switches for manual motion control without a PC. Uragan Studio, our freeware user-interface, offers a Python scripting environment for complex motion and data loggind applications. Alternatively, we also offer Uragan LabView drivers.

Instead of combining several drivers into a single device, we decided to provide coordinated multi-axis control via a separate multi axis-controller, the Uragan-SO. One or more Uragan motor drivers can either be used individually without coordinated movement or they can be connected to the Uragan-SO for coordinated multi-axis control.

High-voltage applications

In 2015 we started developing small high-voltage power supplie units (PSUs) for reseach applications. These PSUs are based on technology from our custom Sveta PSU development (e.g. Sveta III).

Combining data acquisition and high-voltage

The Sveta-2k2 PSU is a variable high-voltage power supply with USB interface. It includes a data logger based on the Skorost-II. The high-voltage output has a low ripple (< 20 mVrms), which also makes it suitable for nuclear particle detectors. The data logger and high-voltage can be combined for interferometry (e.g. Michelson interferometer with piezo transducer).

Combining motion control and high-voltage

The Sveta-Piezo 100V1 was designed for piezo transducers with voltage ratings up to 125 V. These power supplies feature 3-axis motion control and can be combined with Uragan motor drivers for high-accuracy motion control.