High-speed electromechanical shutter for vision research

Abstract

A low-cost and high-speed electromechanical shutter is described. The design makes use of a small magnet moving in a magnetic field and includes a specially developed electronic control for optimal operation. The opening and closing time of the shutter is below 200 microseconds with overall time for generating light flashes close to 1 ms.

Cost-effective, open-source light shutters with Arduino control

“…The blades can block the light by absorbing it (e.g., absorption on dark blades) or by redirecting it (e.g., scattering or reflection on bare metallic blades). The most common options for moving the blades are to attach them to solenoids [3] , [4] or to rotary motors [5] . Because of the inertia in mechanical motion, there is a tradeoff between the size of the obstructed light path and the time required to open/close it (and the frequency of opening/closing cycles).…”

“…They vary greatly in performance, cost, and ease of assembly; few provide easy-to-replicate build instructions. Early designs relied on magnetic coils, relays, or solenoids [1] , [3] , [4] , [16] , DC motors [5] , [17] , or loudspeakers [18] . Faster blade motion with lower timing jitter can be achieved with voice coils extracted from hard disk drives [19] , [20] ; however, this design requires the sacrifice and disassembly of a hard disk drive and custom mounting of the actuator, posing challenges with sourcing and sustainability.…”