Digital Real-Time Correlator Implemented by Field Programmable Gate Array

Digital correlation techniques are used in photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) experiments to gain information about the diffusion coefficient and thereby the size and distribution of submicron particle structures in fluid media. This paper presents a photon correlation system implemented by high performance FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). Owning to the digital nature of photon counting, correlators may be implemented by digital hardware only. For generality FPGA may be partitioned into counting module and operating module for calculating. Verilog HDL is adopted in the FPGA module. The software design and system simulation are completed in the integration circumstance of ISE.