# Pulses
Pulses define the framework for a measurement protocol. The timing, lights and detectors are controlled by the pulses. The pulses element is an array in which each element, called a pulse set, with a number defines how many pulses are given. These pulses, also measurement pulses have a set distance, defined by the pulse_distance and a specific duration defined by pulse_length. In contrast to the other two, pulse_length is an array, in which each element is an array, allowing to define different durations, for example if different lights or detectors are used within one set.
# Pulse Sets
When defining a measurement Protocol, it can be helpful to group the measurement into phases, each defined by a pulse set. Create / Edit a Protocol provides a simple photosynthetic-yield example.
# Using a single Light Source
Most measurement protocols only require one light source at a time. The example is showing how to define pulses with a length of 30 µs and 10000 µs (10 ms) apart. How to set the intensity of the pulses is described in Lights.
...
{
"pulses": [
20, 50, 20
],
"pulse_distance": [
10000, 10000, 10000
],
"pulse_length": [
[ 30 ], [ 30 ], [ 30 ]
],
...
}
...
# Timeline of Pulses from a single Light Source
# Using multiple Light Sources
In case you want to measure multiple kinetics at the same time using different light sources, you can define the sources as described in Lights. When using multiple light sources, the pulse distance is fixed, but you can have a different pulse length for each light source. Since the different light sources are pulsed one after another and each is separated by the duration defined in pulse_distance, be aware that the timing for each individual light source changes. In the example with one light source, each pulse indicated by the red line is 10 ms apart. In the example below, each pulse of the light source indicated in red is now 20 ms apart, or to be exact, 20015 µs.
...
{
"pulses": [
20, 50, 20
],
"pulse_distance": [
10000, 10000, 10000
],
"pulse_length": [
[ 30, 15 ], [ 30, 15 ], [ 30, 15 ]
],
...
}
...
# Timeline of Pulses from multiple Light Sources
