Design and Construction of an Autonomous Control System for Moessbauer Spectrometry

An autonomous control system for Moessbauer spectrometry based on two modules has been designed and built. The first module operates as a multichannel analyzer for the acquisition and storage of spectra, and the second one is a driver unit which controls and supplies the power for the velocity transducer. A microcontroller executes the digital control algorithm for the velocity transducer motion and manages the data acquisition and storage tasks. The user can monitor the system from an external PC through the serial port. A graphic interface made with the LabVIEW software allows the user to adjust digitally the control parameters for the velocity transducer motion, the channels number, to visualize as well as save spectra in a file. The microcontroller can be reprogrammed from the PC through the same serial port without intervention of a universal programmer, which allows the user to make proper software for different applications of the system. The system has been tested for linearity with several standard absorbers yielding satisfactory results. The low cost of its design, construction and maintenance make this equipment to be an attractive choice when assembling a Moessbauer spectrometer.