GPScan.VI: A general-purpose LabVIEW program for scanning imaging or any application requiring synchronous analog voltage generation and data acquisition

A large number of measurement techniques involve the scanning of a probe, while a physical quantity is measured. This is for instance the case for all scanning imaging methods. Data acquisition therefore requires high acquisition rates, together with an accurate synchronization between the probe control and the measurement. The GPScan.VI program is a general purpose LabVIEW program for the control of National Instruments high-speed data acquisition boards, allowing to design scanning imaging systems. Analog output voltages are used to drive a two-dimensional scanning device, while acquisition of analog voltages and TTL pulse counting are run in parallel. Acquisition of megapixel images with pixel dwell times down to the microsecond can be reached with negligible I/O transfer time. The design can be generalized to any situation requiring high speed synchronous generation and acquisition.