THE INVESTIGATION OF OPTICAL VARIABILITY ON TIME SCALES OF 10(-7)-10(2) S - HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, RESULTS

We present a hardware/software complex for photometric observations wi th high time resolution. The hardware consists of a detector, a record ing system which is a ''time-coded'' converter, a PC/AT 486 computer a nd a tape recorder. As a detector we can use anlv device that provides its output in such a way that for every detected quantum there is a c orrespondent standard impulse with additional information on the quant um-space coordinates, frequency, polarization, etc. A special ''time-c oded'' converter ''Quantochron'' registers the quanta arrival times wi th an accuracy of +/-20 nanoseconds stores in the computer the 16-bit codes as well as the 16-bit codes of additional information. At presen t, the photometer complex allows to register without distortion the fl ux events up to 380 kHz. We describe the special methods and software capable of searching and analyzing any type of photon flux intensity v ariations. 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.