A battery-based, low-noise voltage source.
A highly stable, low-noise voltage source was designed to improve the stability of the electrode bias voltages of a Penning trap. To avoid excess noise and ground loops, the voltage source is completely independent of the public electric network and uses a 12 V car battery to generate output voltages of +/-15 and +/-5 V. First, the dc supply voltage is converted into ac-voltage and gets amplified. Afterwards, the signal is rectified, filtered, and regulated to the desired output value. Each channel can deliver up to 1.5 A. The current as well as the battery voltage and the output voltages can be read out via a universal serial bus (USB) connection for monitoring purposes. With the presented design, a relative voltage stability of 7 x 10(-7) over 6.5 h and a noise level equal or smaller than 30 nV/square root(Hz) is achieved.
Wagner
Anke
A
Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, D-55099 Mainz, Germany. anke.wagner@mpi-hd.mpg.de
Sturm
Sven
S
Schabinger
Birgit
B
Blaum
Klaus
K
Quint
Wolfgang
W