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Hi Kurt,



have you checked the specs of your I/O board? High impedance analog outputs 
are rare on good quality lab equipment and high impedance digital outputs 
are a mere nonsense. It is possible that your board uses 3.3V interface, 
this is common on modern cheapo hardware. You cancheck this with an 
oscilloscope (or voltmeter) andsome dummy load.




Just check whether there are some hardware jumpers or software settings that
could swithch the outputs to low impedance.




The same may apply for your laser. High impedance (about 1 kOhm) is more 
common, the 50 Ohm is an option that might be "deactivated". Again look into
some detailed manual.




It is simple to build a level converter or a buffer yourself. I couldn't 
find any simple ready solution for you on the net... Most of the results 
(both devices and schematics) I could find are impedance converters for very
high frequencies, that's an overkill.




Good luck!




zdenek svindrych

1st faculty of medicine, cuni.cz



---------- Původní zpráva ----------
Od: Kurt Thorn <[log in to unmask]>
Komu: [log in to unmask]
Datum: 25. 2. 2014 0:11:12
Předmět: Digitial and Analog line drivers for laser control

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Hi All -

A problem I've run into a few times now is that we have a digital or 
analog I/O board with relatively high impedance outputs that we want to 
use to drive a laser with 50 ohm inputs. I've encountered this for both 
digital and analog control. I'd like to be able to buy a line driver 
(digital or analog) that I can put in between the I/O board and the 
laser fix the impedance mismatch. Does anyone know of a source for such 
a thing? I could build one myself, but I'd rather not if I don't have to.

Kurt

-- 
Kurt Thorn
Director, Nikon Imaging Center
http://nic.ucsf.edu/blog/"