  Recently we have shown a system developed to precisely control the laser
pulse timing of excimer lasers [1]. The electronic circuit based on an embedded
microcontroller and utilized the natural jitter noise of the laser pulse
generation to improve the long term regulation of the delay of the laser
related to an external trigger pulse. Based on our results we have developed an
improved system that uses additional, programmable time delay units to tune the
noise source to further enhance performance and allows reduction of complexity
in the same time. A mixed-signal microcontroller generates a randomly dithered
delay of the pulse generation moment to enhance the resolution and also runs a
dedicated algorithm to optimize regulation. The compact, flexible hardware
supports further enhancements; the signal processing algorithm can be replaced
even by in-system reprogramming. Optimized processing and the relaxed hardware
requirements may also support low-power operation, wireless communication,
therefore the application possibilities may be extended to many other
disciplines.
