The Investigation of Optical Variability on Time Scales of 10-7-102S: Hardware, Software, Results

We present a hardware/software complex for photometric observations with high time resolution. The hardware consists of a detector, a recording system which is a "time - coded" converter, a PC/AT 486 computer and a tape recorder. As a detector we can use any device that provides its output in such a way that for every detected quantum there is a correspondent standard impulse with additional information on the quantum - space coordinates, frequency, polarization, etc. A special "time - coded" converter "Quantochron" registers the quanta arrival times with an accuracy of ± 20 nanoseconds stores in the computer the 16-bit codes as well as the 16-bit codes of additional information. At present, the photometer complex allows to register without distortion the flux events up to 380 kHz. We describe the special methods and software capable of searching and analyzing any type of photon flux intensity variations. The results of the high time resolution investigations of a number of relativistic and fast variable objects, such as black hole candidates, LMXB, pulsars and flare stars, are presented.