Company Blog

Optimizing the SNR of Laser-Scanning Microscopes with Lock-in Amplifiers

25.05.2021

Laser Scanning

Improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is desirable for every laser-scanning microscopy application. It enables the observation of smaller changes or faster processes in a sample. This blog post explains how using a lock-in amplifier or a boxcar averager can boost the SNR compared to using a digitizer only. Furthermore, I...

Randomized Benchmarking in Seconds

20.05.2021

Random Benchmarking Sequence

Randomized benchmarking (RB) is a widely used tool in quantum information science to determine qubit fidelity and to characterize individual qubit gates. It is also an excellent example of a quantum experiment with advanced requirements on the control hardware and software. For an RB experiment, we apply random sequences of...

The Next Generation of Signal Generators - SHFSG Launch Event

05.05.2021

SHFSG Launch Event

On April 29th, Jan Benhelm, Mark Kasperczyk and I welcomed a crowd of customers to the interactive online event introducing Zurich Instruments’ newest product, the SHFSG Signal Generator. Our aim was to present multiple perspectives on the launch of this powerful instrument. Jan provided an overview of Zurich Instruments’ quantum...

Comparison of Liquid Conductivity Probes

29.04.2021

EIS Probe

In a previous blog post , we described how to use the MFIA Impedance Analyzer to measure the electrochemical impedance spectrum (EIS) of a liquid sample and to derive the conductivity with EIS modeling. The post presented a 5-element equivalent circuit model, which required a relatively deep understanding of electrochemistry...

Customized Output Data Format for Impedance Sweeps

16.04.2021

Data Format

This short blog post shows you how to customize the exported data of your impedance sweeps on the MFIA and MFLI with MF-IA option. The Sweeper module of LabOne^® is an excellent tool to sweep frequency, amplitude or bias offset, and measure multiple parameters as a function of the swept parameter.

Capturing Transients with the Zurich Instruments Toolkit

07.04.2021

MFIA configuration

In many applications, Zurich Instruments' lock-in amplifiers and impedance analyzers are integrated into a larger measurement system. Relying on an application programming interface (API) to obtain necessary information from the instruments is of great importance in such cases...

Fast Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy for Characterization and Counting - Q&A

23.03.2021

Meng Li, Bruno Charlety

This blog post summarizes the webinar that Fluigent and Zurich Instruments presented together on our solution for fast electric impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in microfluidics. The system consisted of an HF2LI Lock-in Amplifier from Zurich Instruments and the LineUp series microfluidic flow controllers from Fluigent. We covered the working principle of...

Come Effettuare Misure DLTS con lo MFIA

18.03.2021

Voltage and Capacitance in Plotter

Questo articolo illustra come produrre un'onda quadra in tensione ed acquisire i conseguenti transitori di capacità, in una scala temporale molto corta (ad esempio 20 us), per effettuare misure di tipo "deep level transient spectroscopy" (DLTS). DLTS è una tecnica potente e comunemente usata per investigare sia la concentrazione che...

Practical Active Qubit Reset

05.03.2021

Active Qubit Reset Setup

When working with qubits, it’s essential to have a reliable state preparation. The easiest method for superconducting qubits is to passively wait for the qubit to decay into its ground state, but it’s slow and has poor fidelity. Active qubit reset decreases considerably the initialization time, while greatly increasing the...

Probing Local Magnetic Field Patterns - Q&A

26.02.2021

Probing Local Magentic Field Patterns

For this webinar we teamed up with Prof. Martino Poggio , whose work focuses on understanding the physics of materials and phenomena that is strongly dependent on the local conditions, be it by impurities or through the design through local probing of magnetic fields coming from currents and magnetization. Several...

Content Review – Lock-in Detection

15.02.2021

Lock-in Tab

Test and measurement tasks often carry the challenge that sought for signals are buried in noise. The fundamental use of a lock-in amplifier is to recover these signals, but modern digital lock-in amplifiers can do much more than this. To help you take full advantage of the capabilities of your...

Automating IQ Mixer Calibration on the HDIQ

03.02.2021

LO Leakage

As a crucial step in the bring-up of superconducting experiments, IQ mixer calibration normally requires multiple instruments from different parties and manual cabling work. This blog post describes how to use the Zurich Instruments HDIQ, HDAWG and UHFQA (or other UHF instruments) to automate IQ mixer calibration and: Simplify the...

Sensing Finger Movements with Impedance Measurements

19.01.2021

Fingers

Smart clothes, wearables and biosensors do not sound as futuristic as they used to. The development in this field of science and engineering is rapid and it is no longer a niche – as seen in the first or even second generation of such products hitting the market. Although there...

Fast Frequency Sweeps for Impedance Measurements

19.01.2021

Sweeper Trace

When characterizing a device or material as a function of frequency, the resulting spectrum may change with time as the environment or material itself evolves. This time evolution can be captured by taking sequential frequency sweeps with the LabOne Sweeper module on the MFIA or the MFLI. Each sweep requires...

Compensating Cables for Accurate Impedance Measurements

19.01.2021

MFITF attached to MFIA

Measuring impedance accurately can be a challenge, especially when the device or material under test is located some distance away from the impedance analyzer at the end of cables. The phase delay and parasitic impedance of the cables can significantly reduce the accuracy of a measurement. This blog post seeks...