qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech package

Submodules

qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS module

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS.AlazarTech_ATS(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any)[source]

Bases: Instrument

This is the qcodes driver for Alazar data acquisition cards

status: beta-version

Parameters

name – name for this instrument
system_id – target system id for this board
board_id – target board id within the system for this board
dll_path – path to the ATS driver dll library file
api – AlazarATSAPI interface, defaults to the dll api. This argument makes it possible to provide another api, e.g. for a simulated driver for which the binary Alazar drivers do not need to be installed.

dll_path = 'C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\ATSApi'

channels = 2

classmethod find_boards(dll_path: Optional[str] = None) → List[Dict[str, Any]][source]

Find connected Alazar boards

Parameters: dll_path – path to the Alazar API DLL library
Returns: list of board info dictionaries for each connected board

classmethod get_board_info(api: AlazarATSAPI, system_id: int, board_id: int) → Dict[str, Union[str, int]][source]

Get the information from a connected Alazar board

Parameters

api – An AlazarATSAPI that wraps around the CTypes CDLL
system_id – id of the Alazar system
board_id – id of the board within the alazar system

Returns

Dictionary containing

system_id

board_id

board_kind (as string)

max_samples

bits_per_sample

api: qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.AlazarATSAPI = api or AlazarATSAPI(dll_path or self.dll_path)

get_idn() → Dict[str, Optional[Union[str, int]]][source]

This methods gets the most relevant information of this instrument

The firmware version reported should match the version number of downloadable fw files from AlazarTech. But note that the firmware version has often been found to be incorrect for several firmware versions. At the time of writing it is known to be correct for the 9360 (v 21.07) and 9373 (v 30.04) but incorrect for several earlier versions. In Alazar DSO this is reported as FPGA Version.

Returns

Dictionary containing

’firmware’: as string
’model’: as string
’serial’: board serial number
’vendor’: ‘AlazarTech’
’CPLD_version’: version of the CPLD
’driver_version’: version of the driver dll
’SDK_version’: version of the SDK
’latest_cal_date’: date of the latest calibration (as string)
’memory_size’: size of the memory in samples
’asopc_type’: type of asopc (as decimal number)
’pcie_link_speed’: the speed of a single pcie link (in GB/s)
’pcie_link_width’: number of pcie links
’bits_per_sample’: number of bits per one sample
’max_samples’: board memory size in samples

syncing() → Iterator[None][source]

Context manager for syncing settings to Alazar card. It will automatically call sync_settings_to_card at the end of the context.

Example

This is intended to be used around multiple parameter sets to ensure syncing is done exactly once:

with alazar.syncing():
     alazar.trigger_source1('EXTERNAL')
     alazar.trigger_level1(100)

sync_settings_to_card() → None[source]: Syncs all parameters to Alazar card

allocate_and_post_buffer(sample_type: Union[Type[c_ubyte], Type[c_ushort], Type[c_uint], Type[c_int], Type[c_float]], n_bytes: int) → Buffer[source]

acquire(mode: Optional[str] = None, samples_per_record: Optional[int] = None, records_per_buffer: Optional[int] = None, buffers_per_acquisition: Optional[int] = None, channel_selection: Optional[str] = None, transfer_offset: Optional[int] = None, external_startcapture: Optional[str] = None, enable_record_headers: Optional[str] = None, alloc_buffers: Optional[str] = None, fifo_only_streaming: Optional[str] = None, interleave_samples: Optional[str] = None, get_processed_data: Optional[str] = None, allocated_buffers: Optional[int] = None, buffer_timeout: Optional[int] = None, acquisition_controller: Optional[AcquisitionController[Any]] = None) → OutputType[source]

perform a single acquisition with the Alazar board, and set certain parameters to the appropriate values for the parameters, see the ATS-SDK programmer’s guide

Parameters

mode –
samples_per_record –
records_per_buffer –
buffers_per_acquisition –
channel_selection –
transfer_offset –
external_startcapture –
enable_record_headers –
alloc_buffers –
fifo_only_streaming –
interleave_samples –
get_processed_data –
allocated_buffers –
buffer_timeout –
acquisition_controller – An instance of an acquisition controller that handles the dataflow of an acquisition

Returns

Whatever is given by acquisition_controller.post_acquire method

clear_buffers() → None[source]

This method uncommits all buffers that were committed by the driver. This method only has to be called when the acquistion crashes, otherwise the driver will uncommit the buffers itself

Returns: None

signal_to_volt(channel: int, signal: float) → float[source]

convert a value from a buffer to an actual value in volts based on the ranges of the channel

Parameters

channel – number of the channel where the signal value came from
signal – the value that needs to be converted

Returns

the corresponding value in volts

get_sample_rate(include_decimation: bool = True) → float[source]

Obtain the effective sampling rate of the acquisition based on clock speed and decimation

Returns: the number of samples (per channel) per second

static get_num_channels(byte_rep: int) → int[source]

Return the number of channels for a specific channel mask

Each single channel is represented by a bitarray with one non zero entry i.e. powers of two. All multichannel masks can be constructed by summing the single channel ones. However, not all configurations are supported. See table 4 Input Channel Configurations on page 241 of the Alazar SDK manual. This contains the complete mapping for all current Alazar cards. It’s left to the driver to ensure that only the ones supported for a specific card can be selected

__del__() → None: Close the instrument and remove its instance record.

__getitem__(key: str) → Union[Callable[[...], Any], Parameter]: Delegate instrument[‘name’] to parameter or function ‘name’.

__getstate__() → None: Prevent pickling instruments, and give a nice error message.

__repr__() → str: Simplified repr giving just the class and name.

add_function(name: str, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Function to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real function of the instrument.

This functionality is meant for simple cases, principally things that map to simple commands like *RST (reset) or those with just a few arguments. It requires a fixed argument count, and positional args only. If your case is more complicated, you’re probably better off simply making a new method in your Instrument subclass definition.

Parameters

name – How the Function will be stored within instrument.Functions and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.call(func_name, *args) etc.
**kwargs – constructor kwargs for Function

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a function with this name.

add_parameter(name: str, parameter_class: Optional[Type[ParameterBase]] = None, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Parameter to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real parameter of the instrument.

In this sense, parameters are the state variables of the instrument, anything the user can set and/or get.

Parameters

name – How the parameter will be stored within parameters and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.set(param_name, value) etc.
parameter_class – You can construct the parameter out of any class. Default parameters.Parameter.
**kwargs – Constructor arguments for parameter_class.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a parameter with this name and the parameter being replaced is not an abstract parameter.
ValueError – If there is an existing abstract parameter and the unit of the new parameter is inconsistent with the existing one.

add_submodule(name: str, submodule: Union[InstrumentModule, ChannelTuple]) → None

Bind one submodule to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ method for every submodule of the instrument.

Submodules can effectively be considered as instruments within the main instrument, and should at minimum be snapshottable. For example, they can be used to either store logical groupings of parameters, which may or may not be repeated, or channel lists. They should either be an instance of an InstrumentModule or a ChannelTuple.

Parameters

name – How the submodule will be stored within instrument.submodules and also how it can be addressed.
submodule – The submodule to be stored.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already contains a submodule with this name.
TypeError – If the submodule that we are trying to add is not an instance of an Metadatable object.

property ancestors: List[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns a list of instruments, starting from the current instrument and following to the parent instrument and the parents parent instrument until the root instrument is reached.

ask(cmd: str) → str

Write a command string to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().ask(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override ask_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Returns: response
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

ask_raw(cmd: str) → str

Low level method to write to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override ask.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

call(func_name: str, *args: Any) → Any

Shortcut for calling a function from its name.

Parameters

func_name – The name of a function of this instrument.
*args – any arguments to the function.

Returns

The return value of the function.

close() → None

Irreversibly stop this instrument and free its resources.

Subclasses should override this if they have other specific resources to close.

classmethod close_all() → None

Try to close all instruments registered in _all_instruments This is handy for use with atexit to ensure that all instruments are closed when a python session is closed.

Examples

>>> atexit.register(qc.Instrument.close_all())

connect_message(idn_param: str = 'IDN', begin_time: Optional[float] = None) → None

Print a standard message on initial connection to an instrument.

Parameters

idn_param – Name of parameter that returns ID dict. Default IDN.
begin_time – time.time() when init started. Default is self._t0, set at start of Instrument.__init__.

delegate_attr_dicts: List[str] = ['parameters', 'functions', 'submodules']: A list of names (strings) of dictionaries which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose keys should be treated as attributes of self.

delegate_attr_objects: List[str] = []: A list of names (strings) of objects which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose attributes should be passed through to self.

static exist(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[type] = None) → bool

Check if an instrument with a given names exists (i.e. is already instantiated).

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

classmethod find_instrument(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[Type[T]] = None) → T

Find an existing instrument by name.

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

Returns

The instrument found.

Raises

KeyError – If no instrument of that name was found, or if its reference is invalid (dead).
TypeError – If a specific class was requested but a different type was found.

property full_name: str

get(param_name: str) → Any

Shortcut for getting a parameter from its name.

Parameters: param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
Returns: The current value of the parameter.

classmethod instances() → List[Instrument]

Get all currently defined instances of this instrument class.

You can use this to get the objects back if you lose track of them, and it’s also used by the test system to find objects to test against.

Returns: A list of instances.

invalidate_cache() → None

Invalidate the cache of all parameters on the instrument. Calling this method will recursively mark the cache of all parameters on the instrument and any parameter on instrument modules as invalid.

This is useful if you have performed manual operations (e.g. using the frontpanel) which changes the state of the instrument outside QCoDeS.

This in turn means that the next snapshot of the instrument will trigger a (potentially slow) reread of all parameters of the instrument if you pass update=None to snapshot.

static is_valid(instr_instance: Instrument) → bool

Check if a given instance of an instrument is valid: if an instrument has been closed, its instance is not longer a “valid” instrument.

Parameters: instr_instance – Instance of an Instrument class or its subclass.

load_metadata(metadata: Mapping[str, Any]) → None

Load metadata into this classes metadata dictionary.

Parameters: metadata – Metadata to load.

property name: str: Name of the instrument This is equivalent to full_name for backwards compatibility.

property name_parts: List[str]

omit_delegate_attrs: List[str] = []: A list of attribute names (strings) to not delegate to any other dictionary or object.

property parent: Optional[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns the parent instrument. By default this is None. Any SubInstrument should subclass this to return the parent instrument.

print_readable_snapshot(update: bool = False, max_chars: int = 80) → None

Prints a readable version of the snapshot. The readable snapshot includes the name, value and unit of each parameter. A convenience function to quickly get an overview of the status of an instrument.

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If False, just use the latest values in memory. This argument gets passed to the snapshot function.
max_chars – the maximum number of characters per line. The readable snapshot will be cropped if this value is exceeded. Defaults to 80 to be consistent with default terminal width.

classmethod record_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Record (a weak ref to) an instance in a class’s instance list.

Also records the instance in list of all instruments, and verifies that there are no other instruments with the same name.

This method is called after initialization of the instrument is completed.

Parameters: instance – Instance to record.
Raises: KeyError – If another instance with the same name is already present.

classmethod remove_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Remove a particular instance from the record.

Parameters: instance – The instance to remove

property root_instrument: qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase

set(param_name: str, value: Any) → None

Shortcut for setting a parameter from its name and new value.

Parameters

param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
value – The new value to set.

shared_kwargs = ()

property short_name: str: Short name of the instrument

snapshot(update: Optional[bool] = False) → Dict[Any, Any]

Decorate a snapshot dictionary with metadata. DO NOT override this method if you want metadata in the snapshot instead, override snapshot_base().

Parameters: update – Passed to snapshot_base.
Returns: Base snapshot.

snapshot_base(update: Optional[bool] = False, params_to_skip_update: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None) → Dict[Any, Any]

State of the instrument as a JSON-compatible dict (everything that the custom JSON encoder class NumpyJSONEncoder supports).

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If None update the state if known to be invalid. If False, just use the latest values in memory and never update state.
params_to_skip_update – List of parameter names that will be skipped in update even if update is True. This is useful if you have parameters that are slow to update but can be updated in a different way (as in the qdac). If you want to skip the update of certain parameters in all snapshots, use the snapshot_get attribute of those parameters instead.

Returns

base snapshot

Return type

dict

validate_status(verbose: bool = False) → None

Validate the values of all gettable parameters

The validation is done for all parameters that have both a get and set method.

Parameters: verbose – If True, then information about the parameters that are being check is printed.

write(cmd: str) → None

Write a command string with NO response to the hardware.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().write(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override write_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

write_raw(cmd: str) → None

Low level method to write a command string to the hardware.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override write.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

parameters: Dict[str, ParameterBase] = {}: All the parameters supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_parameter().

functions: Dict[str, Function] = {}: All the functions supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_function().

submodules: Dict[str, Union['InstrumentModule', 'ChannelTuple']] = {}: All the submodules of this instrument such as channel lists or logical groupings of parameters. Usually populated via add_submodule().

instrument_modules: Dict[str, 'InstrumentModule'] = {}: All the InstrumentModule of this instrument Usually populated via add_submodule().

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS.Buffer(c_sample_type: Union[Type[c_ubyte], Type[c_ushort], Type[c_uint], Type[c_int], Type[c_float]], size_bytes: int)[source]

Bases: object

Buffer suitable for DMA transfers.

AlazarTech digitizers use direct memory access (DMA) to transfer data from digitizers to the computer’s main memory. This class abstracts a memory buffer on the host, and ensures that all the requirements for DMA transfers are met.

Buffer export a ‘buffer’ member, which is a NumPy array view of the underlying memory buffer

Parameters

c_sample_type – The datatype of the buffer to create. Should be a valid ctypes type.
size_bytes – The size of the buffer to allocate, in bytes.

free_mem() → None[source]: uncommit memory allocated with this buffer object

__del__() → None[source]: If python garbage collects this object, __del__ should be called and it is the last chance to uncommit the memory to prevent a memory leak. This method is not very reliable so users should not rely on this functionality

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS.AcquisitionInterface[source]

Bases: Generic[OutputType]

This class represents all choices that the end-user has to make regarding the data-acquisition. this class should be subclassed to program these choices.

The basic structure of an acquisition is:

Call to AlazarTech_ATS.acquire() internal configuration

Call to AcquisitionInterface.pre_start_capture()

Call to the start capture of the Alazar board

Call to AcquisitionInterface.pre_acquire()

Loop over all buffers that need to be acquired dump each buffer to acquisitioncontroller.handle_buffer (only if buffers need to be recycled to finish the acquisiton)

Dump remaining buffers to AcquisitionInterface.handle_buffer() alazar internals

Return return value from AcquisitionController.post_acquire()

pre_start_capture() → None[source]: Use this method to prepare yourself for the data acquisition The Alazar instrument will call this method right before ‘AlazarStartCapture’ is called

pre_acquire() → None[source]: This method is called immediately after ‘AlazarStartCapture’ is called

handle_buffer(buffer: ndarray, buffer_number: Optional[int] = None) → None[source]

This method should store or process the information that is contained in the buffers obtained during the acquisition.

Parameters

buffer – np.array with the data from the Alazar card
buffer_number – counter for which buffer we are handling

post_acquire() → OutputType[source]

This method should return any information you want to save from this acquisition. The acquisition method from the Alazar driver will use this data as its own return value

Returns: this function should return all relevant data that you want to get form the acquisition

buffer_done_callback(buffers_completed: int) → None[source]

This method is called when a buffer is completed. It can be used if you want to implement an event that happens for each buffer. You will probably want to combine this with AUX_IN_TRIGGER_ENABLE to wait before starting capture of the next buffer.

Parameters: buffers_completed – how many buffers have been completed and copied to local memory at the time of this callback.

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS.AcquisitionController(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any)[source]

Bases: Instrument, AcquisitionInterface[Any], Generic[OutputType]

Compatibility class. The methods of AcquisitionController have been extracted. This class is the base class fro AcquisitionInterfaces that are intended to be QCoDeS instruments at the same time.

Parameters: alazar_name – The name of the alazar instrument.

__del__() → None: Close the instrument and remove its instance record.

__getitem__(key: str) → Union[Callable[[...], Any], Parameter]: Delegate instrument[‘name’] to parameter or function ‘name’.

__getstate__() → None: Prevent pickling instruments, and give a nice error message.

__repr__() → str: Simplified repr giving just the class and name.

add_function(name: str, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Function to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real function of the instrument.

This functionality is meant for simple cases, principally things that map to simple commands like *RST (reset) or those with just a few arguments. It requires a fixed argument count, and positional args only. If your case is more complicated, you’re probably better off simply making a new method in your Instrument subclass definition.

Parameters

name – How the Function will be stored within instrument.Functions and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.call(func_name, *args) etc.
**kwargs – constructor kwargs for Function

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a function with this name.

add_parameter(name: str, parameter_class: Optional[Type[ParameterBase]] = None, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Parameter to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real parameter of the instrument.

In this sense, parameters are the state variables of the instrument, anything the user can set and/or get.

Parameters

name – How the parameter will be stored within parameters and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.set(param_name, value) etc.
parameter_class – You can construct the parameter out of any class. Default parameters.Parameter.
**kwargs – Constructor arguments for parameter_class.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a parameter with this name and the parameter being replaced is not an abstract parameter.
ValueError – If there is an existing abstract parameter and the unit of the new parameter is inconsistent with the existing one.

add_submodule(name: str, submodule: Union[InstrumentModule, ChannelTuple]) → None

Bind one submodule to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ method for every submodule of the instrument.

Submodules can effectively be considered as instruments within the main instrument, and should at minimum be snapshottable. For example, they can be used to either store logical groupings of parameters, which may or may not be repeated, or channel lists. They should either be an instance of an InstrumentModule or a ChannelTuple.

Parameters

name – How the submodule will be stored within instrument.submodules and also how it can be addressed.
submodule – The submodule to be stored.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already contains a submodule with this name.
TypeError – If the submodule that we are trying to add is not an instance of an Metadatable object.

property ancestors: List[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns a list of instruments, starting from the current instrument and following to the parent instrument and the parents parent instrument until the root instrument is reached.

ask(cmd: str) → str

Write a command string to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().ask(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override ask_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Returns: response
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

ask_raw(cmd: str) → str

Low level method to write to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override ask.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

buffer_done_callback(buffers_completed: int) → None

This method is called when a buffer is completed. It can be used if you want to implement an event that happens for each buffer. You will probably want to combine this with AUX_IN_TRIGGER_ENABLE to wait before starting capture of the next buffer.

Parameters: buffers_completed – how many buffers have been completed and copied to local memory at the time of this callback.

call(func_name: str, *args: Any) → Any

Shortcut for calling a function from its name.

Parameters

func_name – The name of a function of this instrument.
*args – any arguments to the function.

Returns

The return value of the function.

close() → None

Irreversibly stop this instrument and free its resources.

Subclasses should override this if they have other specific resources to close.

classmethod close_all() → None

Try to close all instruments registered in _all_instruments This is handy for use with atexit to ensure that all instruments are closed when a python session is closed.

Examples

>>> atexit.register(qc.Instrument.close_all())

connect_message(idn_param: str = 'IDN', begin_time: Optional[float] = None) → None

Print a standard message on initial connection to an instrument.

Parameters

idn_param – Name of parameter that returns ID dict. Default IDN.
begin_time – time.time() when init started. Default is self._t0, set at start of Instrument.__init__.

delegate_attr_dicts: List[str] = ['parameters', 'functions', 'submodules']: A list of names (strings) of dictionaries which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose keys should be treated as attributes of self.

delegate_attr_objects: List[str] = []: A list of names (strings) of objects which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose attributes should be passed through to self.

static exist(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[type] = None) → bool

Check if an instrument with a given names exists (i.e. is already instantiated).

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

classmethod find_instrument(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[Type[T]] = None) → T

Find an existing instrument by name.

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

Returns

The instrument found.

Raises

KeyError – If no instrument of that name was found, or if its reference is invalid (dead).
TypeError – If a specific class was requested but a different type was found.

property full_name: str

get(param_name: str) → Any

Shortcut for getting a parameter from its name.

Parameters: param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
Returns: The current value of the parameter.

get_idn() → Dict[str, Optional[str]]

Parse a standard VISA *IDN? response into an ID dict.

Even though this is the VISA standard, it applies to various other types as well, such as IPInstruments, so it is included here in the Instrument base class.

Override this if your instrument does not support *IDN? or returns a nonstandard IDN string. This string is supposed to be a comma-separated list of vendor, model, serial, and firmware, but semicolon and colon are also common separators so we accept them here as well.

Returns: A dict containing vendor, model, serial, and firmware.

handle_buffer(buffer: ndarray, buffer_number: Optional[int] = None) → None

This method should store or process the information that is contained in the buffers obtained during the acquisition.

Parameters

buffer – np.array with the data from the Alazar card
buffer_number – counter for which buffer we are handling

classmethod instances() → List[Instrument]

Get all currently defined instances of this instrument class.

You can use this to get the objects back if you lose track of them, and it’s also used by the test system to find objects to test against.

Returns: A list of instances.

invalidate_cache() → None

Invalidate the cache of all parameters on the instrument. Calling this method will recursively mark the cache of all parameters on the instrument and any parameter on instrument modules as invalid.

This is useful if you have performed manual operations (e.g. using the frontpanel) which changes the state of the instrument outside QCoDeS.

This in turn means that the next snapshot of the instrument will trigger a (potentially slow) reread of all parameters of the instrument if you pass update=None to snapshot.

static is_valid(instr_instance: Instrument) → bool

Check if a given instance of an instrument is valid: if an instrument has been closed, its instance is not longer a “valid” instrument.

Parameters: instr_instance – Instance of an Instrument class or its subclass.

load_metadata(metadata: Mapping[str, Any]) → None

Load metadata into this classes metadata dictionary.

Parameters: metadata – Metadata to load.

property name: str: Name of the instrument This is equivalent to full_name for backwards compatibility.

property name_parts: List[str]

omit_delegate_attrs: List[str] = []: A list of attribute names (strings) to not delegate to any other dictionary or object.

property parent: Optional[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns the parent instrument. By default this is None. Any SubInstrument should subclass this to return the parent instrument.

post_acquire() → OutputType

This method should return any information you want to save from this acquisition. The acquisition method from the Alazar driver will use this data as its own return value

Returns: this function should return all relevant data that you want to get form the acquisition

pre_acquire() → None: This method is called immediately after ‘AlazarStartCapture’ is called

pre_start_capture() → None: Use this method to prepare yourself for the data acquisition The Alazar instrument will call this method right before ‘AlazarStartCapture’ is called

print_readable_snapshot(update: bool = False, max_chars: int = 80) → None

Prints a readable version of the snapshot. The readable snapshot includes the name, value and unit of each parameter. A convenience function to quickly get an overview of the status of an instrument.

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If False, just use the latest values in memory. This argument gets passed to the snapshot function.
max_chars – the maximum number of characters per line. The readable snapshot will be cropped if this value is exceeded. Defaults to 80 to be consistent with default terminal width.

classmethod record_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Record (a weak ref to) an instance in a class’s instance list.

Also records the instance in list of all instruments, and verifies that there are no other instruments with the same name.

This method is called after initialization of the instrument is completed.

Parameters: instance – Instance to record.
Raises: KeyError – If another instance with the same name is already present.

classmethod remove_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Remove a particular instance from the record.

Parameters: instance – The instance to remove

property root_instrument: qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase

set(param_name: str, value: Any) → None

Shortcut for setting a parameter from its name and new value.

Parameters

param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
value – The new value to set.

shared_kwargs = ()

property short_name: str: Short name of the instrument

snapshot(update: Optional[bool] = False) → Dict[Any, Any]

Decorate a snapshot dictionary with metadata. DO NOT override this method if you want metadata in the snapshot instead, override snapshot_base().

Parameters: update – Passed to snapshot_base.
Returns: Base snapshot.

snapshot_base(update: Optional[bool] = False, params_to_skip_update: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None) → Dict[Any, Any]

State of the instrument as a JSON-compatible dict (everything that the custom JSON encoder class NumpyJSONEncoder supports).

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If None update the state if known to be invalid. If False, just use the latest values in memory and never update state.
params_to_skip_update – List of parameter names that will be skipped in update even if update is True. This is useful if you have parameters that are slow to update but can be updated in a different way (as in the qdac). If you want to skip the update of certain parameters in all snapshots, use the snapshot_get attribute of those parameters instead.

Returns

base snapshot

Return type

dict

validate_status(verbose: bool = False) → None

Validate the values of all gettable parameters

The validation is done for all parameters that have both a get and set method.

Parameters: verbose – If True, then information about the parameters that are being check is printed.

write(cmd: str) → None

Write a command string with NO response to the hardware.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().write(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override write_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

write_raw(cmd: str) → None

Low level method to write a command string to the hardware.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override write.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

parameters: Dict[str, ParameterBase] = {}: All the parameters supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_parameter().

functions: Dict[str, Function] = {}: All the functions supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_function().

submodules: Dict[str, Union['InstrumentModule', 'ChannelTuple']] = {}: All the submodules of this instrument such as channel lists or logical groupings of parameters. Usually populated via add_submodule().

instrument_modules: Dict[str, 'InstrumentModule'] = {}: All the InstrumentModule of this instrument Usually populated via add_submodule().

qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS9360 module

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS9360.AlazarTech_ATS9360(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any)[source]

Bases: AlazarTech_ATS

This class is the driver for the ATS9360 board it inherits from the ATS base class

samples_divisor = 128

__del__() → None: Close the instrument and remove its instance record.

__getitem__(key: str) → Union[Callable[[...], Any], Parameter]: Delegate instrument[‘name’] to parameter or function ‘name’.

__getstate__() → None: Prevent pickling instruments, and give a nice error message.

__repr__() → str: Simplified repr giving just the class and name.

acquire(mode: Optional[str] = None, samples_per_record: Optional[int] = None, records_per_buffer: Optional[int] = None, buffers_per_acquisition: Optional[int] = None, channel_selection: Optional[str] = None, transfer_offset: Optional[int] = None, external_startcapture: Optional[str] = None, enable_record_headers: Optional[str] = None, alloc_buffers: Optional[str] = None, fifo_only_streaming: Optional[str] = None, interleave_samples: Optional[str] = None, get_processed_data: Optional[str] = None, allocated_buffers: Optional[int] = None, buffer_timeout: Optional[int] = None, acquisition_controller: Optional[AcquisitionController[Any]] = None) → OutputType

perform a single acquisition with the Alazar board, and set certain parameters to the appropriate values for the parameters, see the ATS-SDK programmer’s guide

Parameters

mode –
samples_per_record –
records_per_buffer –
buffers_per_acquisition –
channel_selection –
transfer_offset –
external_startcapture –
enable_record_headers –
alloc_buffers –
fifo_only_streaming –
interleave_samples –
get_processed_data –
allocated_buffers –
buffer_timeout –
acquisition_controller – An instance of an acquisition controller that handles the dataflow of an acquisition

Returns

Whatever is given by acquisition_controller.post_acquire method

add_function(name: str, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Function to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real function of the instrument.

This functionality is meant for simple cases, principally things that map to simple commands like *RST (reset) or those with just a few arguments. It requires a fixed argument count, and positional args only. If your case is more complicated, you’re probably better off simply making a new method in your Instrument subclass definition.

Parameters

name – How the Function will be stored within instrument.Functions and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.call(func_name, *args) etc.
**kwargs – constructor kwargs for Function

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a function with this name.

add_parameter(name: str, parameter_class: Optional[Type[ParameterBase]] = None, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Parameter to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real parameter of the instrument.

In this sense, parameters are the state variables of the instrument, anything the user can set and/or get.

Parameters

name – How the parameter will be stored within parameters and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.set(param_name, value) etc.
parameter_class – You can construct the parameter out of any class. Default parameters.Parameter.
**kwargs – Constructor arguments for parameter_class.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a parameter with this name and the parameter being replaced is not an abstract parameter.
ValueError – If there is an existing abstract parameter and the unit of the new parameter is inconsistent with the existing one.

add_submodule(name: str, submodule: Union[InstrumentModule, ChannelTuple]) → None

Bind one submodule to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ method for every submodule of the instrument.

Submodules can effectively be considered as instruments within the main instrument, and should at minimum be snapshottable. For example, they can be used to either store logical groupings of parameters, which may or may not be repeated, or channel lists. They should either be an instance of an InstrumentModule or a ChannelTuple.

Parameters

name – How the submodule will be stored within instrument.submodules and also how it can be addressed.
submodule – The submodule to be stored.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already contains a submodule with this name.
TypeError – If the submodule that we are trying to add is not an instance of an Metadatable object.

allocate_and_post_buffer(sample_type: Union[Type[c_ubyte], Type[c_ushort], Type[c_uint], Type[c_int], Type[c_float]], n_bytes: int) → Buffer

property ancestors: List[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns a list of instruments, starting from the current instrument and following to the parent instrument and the parents parent instrument until the root instrument is reached.

ask(cmd: str) → str

Write a command string to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().ask(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override ask_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Returns: response
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

ask_raw(cmd: str) → str

Low level method to write to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override ask.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

call(func_name: str, *args: Any) → Any

Shortcut for calling a function from its name.

Parameters

func_name – The name of a function of this instrument.
*args – any arguments to the function.

Returns

The return value of the function.

channels = 2

clear_buffers() → None

This method uncommits all buffers that were committed by the driver. This method only has to be called when the acquistion crashes, otherwise the driver will uncommit the buffers itself

Returns: None

close() → None

Irreversibly stop this instrument and free its resources.

Subclasses should override this if they have other specific resources to close.

classmethod close_all() → None

Try to close all instruments registered in _all_instruments This is handy for use with atexit to ensure that all instruments are closed when a python session is closed.

Examples

>>> atexit.register(qc.Instrument.close_all())

connect_message(idn_param: str = 'IDN', begin_time: Optional[float] = None) → None

Print a standard message on initial connection to an instrument.

Parameters

idn_param – Name of parameter that returns ID dict. Default IDN.
begin_time – time.time() when init started. Default is self._t0, set at start of Instrument.__init__.

delegate_attr_dicts: List[str] = ['parameters', 'functions', 'submodules']: A list of names (strings) of dictionaries which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose keys should be treated as attributes of self.

delegate_attr_objects: List[str] = []: A list of names (strings) of objects which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose attributes should be passed through to self.

dll_path = 'C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\ATSApi'

static exist(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[type] = None) → bool

Check if an instrument with a given names exists (i.e. is already instantiated).

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

classmethod find_boards(dll_path: Optional[str] = None) → List[Dict[str, Any]]

Find connected Alazar boards

Parameters: dll_path – path to the Alazar API DLL library
Returns: list of board info dictionaries for each connected board

classmethod find_instrument(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[Type[T]] = None) → T

Find an existing instrument by name.

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

Returns

The instrument found.

Raises

KeyError – If no instrument of that name was found, or if its reference is invalid (dead).
TypeError – If a specific class was requested but a different type was found.

property full_name: str

get(param_name: str) → Any

Shortcut for getting a parameter from its name.

Parameters: param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
Returns: The current value of the parameter.

classmethod get_board_info(api: AlazarATSAPI, system_id: int, board_id: int) → Dict[str, Union[str, int]]

Get the information from a connected Alazar board

Parameters

api – An AlazarATSAPI that wraps around the CTypes CDLL
system_id – id of the Alazar system
board_id – id of the board within the alazar system

Returns

Dictionary containing

system_id

board_id

board_kind (as string)

max_samples

bits_per_sample

get_idn() → Dict[str, Optional[Union[str, int]]]

This methods gets the most relevant information of this instrument

The firmware version reported should match the version number of downloadable fw files from AlazarTech. But note that the firmware version has often been found to be incorrect for several firmware versions. At the time of writing it is known to be correct for the 9360 (v 21.07) and 9373 (v 30.04) but incorrect for several earlier versions. In Alazar DSO this is reported as FPGA Version.

Returns

Dictionary containing

’firmware’: as string
’model’: as string
’serial’: board serial number
’vendor’: ‘AlazarTech’
’CPLD_version’: version of the CPLD
’driver_version’: version of the driver dll
’SDK_version’: version of the SDK
’latest_cal_date’: date of the latest calibration (as string)
’memory_size’: size of the memory in samples
’asopc_type’: type of asopc (as decimal number)
’pcie_link_speed’: the speed of a single pcie link (in GB/s)
’pcie_link_width’: number of pcie links
’bits_per_sample’: number of bits per one sample
’max_samples’: board memory size in samples

static get_num_channels(byte_rep: int) → int

Return the number of channels for a specific channel mask

Each single channel is represented by a bitarray with one non zero entry i.e. powers of two. All multichannel masks can be constructed by summing the single channel ones. However, not all configurations are supported. See table 4 Input Channel Configurations on page 241 of the Alazar SDK manual. This contains the complete mapping for all current Alazar cards. It’s left to the driver to ensure that only the ones supported for a specific card can be selected

get_sample_rate(include_decimation: bool = True) → float

Obtain the effective sampling rate of the acquisition based on clock speed and decimation

Returns: the number of samples (per channel) per second

classmethod instances() → List[Instrument]

Get all currently defined instances of this instrument class.

You can use this to get the objects back if you lose track of them, and it’s also used by the test system to find objects to test against.

Returns: A list of instances.

invalidate_cache() → None

Invalidate the cache of all parameters on the instrument. Calling this method will recursively mark the cache of all parameters on the instrument and any parameter on instrument modules as invalid.

This is useful if you have performed manual operations (e.g. using the frontpanel) which changes the state of the instrument outside QCoDeS.

This in turn means that the next snapshot of the instrument will trigger a (potentially slow) reread of all parameters of the instrument if you pass update=None to snapshot.

static is_valid(instr_instance: Instrument) → bool

Check if a given instance of an instrument is valid: if an instrument has been closed, its instance is not longer a “valid” instrument.

Parameters: instr_instance – Instance of an Instrument class or its subclass.

load_metadata(metadata: Mapping[str, Any]) → None

Load metadata into this classes metadata dictionary.

Parameters: metadata – Metadata to load.

property name: str: Name of the instrument This is equivalent to full_name for backwards compatibility.

property name_parts: List[str]

omit_delegate_attrs: List[str] = []: A list of attribute names (strings) to not delegate to any other dictionary or object.

property parent: Optional[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns the parent instrument. By default this is None. Any SubInstrument should subclass this to return the parent instrument.

print_readable_snapshot(update: bool = False, max_chars: int = 80) → None

Prints a readable version of the snapshot. The readable snapshot includes the name, value and unit of each parameter. A convenience function to quickly get an overview of the status of an instrument.

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If False, just use the latest values in memory. This argument gets passed to the snapshot function.
max_chars – the maximum number of characters per line. The readable snapshot will be cropped if this value is exceeded. Defaults to 80 to be consistent with default terminal width.

classmethod record_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Record (a weak ref to) an instance in a class’s instance list.

Also records the instance in list of all instruments, and verifies that there are no other instruments with the same name.

This method is called after initialization of the instrument is completed.

Parameters: instance – Instance to record.
Raises: KeyError – If another instance with the same name is already present.

classmethod remove_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Remove a particular instance from the record.

Parameters: instance – The instance to remove

property root_instrument: qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase

set(param_name: str, value: Any) → None

Shortcut for setting a parameter from its name and new value.

Parameters

param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
value – The new value to set.

shared_kwargs = ()

property short_name: str: Short name of the instrument

signal_to_volt(channel: int, signal: float) → float

convert a value from a buffer to an actual value in volts based on the ranges of the channel

Parameters

channel – number of the channel where the signal value came from
signal – the value that needs to be converted

Returns

the corresponding value in volts

snapshot(update: Optional[bool] = False) → Dict[Any, Any]

Decorate a snapshot dictionary with metadata. DO NOT override this method if you want metadata in the snapshot instead, override snapshot_base().

Parameters: update – Passed to snapshot_base.
Returns: Base snapshot.

snapshot_base(update: Optional[bool] = False, params_to_skip_update: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None) → Dict[Any, Any]

State of the instrument as a JSON-compatible dict (everything that the custom JSON encoder class NumpyJSONEncoder supports).

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If None update the state if known to be invalid. If False, just use the latest values in memory and never update state.
params_to_skip_update – List of parameter names that will be skipped in update even if update is True. This is useful if you have parameters that are slow to update but can be updated in a different way (as in the qdac). If you want to skip the update of certain parameters in all snapshots, use the snapshot_get attribute of those parameters instead.

Returns

base snapshot

Return type

dict

sync_settings_to_card() → None: Syncs all parameters to Alazar card

syncing() → Iterator[None]

Context manager for syncing settings to Alazar card. It will automatically call sync_settings_to_card at the end of the context.

Example

This is intended to be used around multiple parameter sets to ensure syncing is done exactly once:

with alazar.syncing():
     alazar.trigger_source1('EXTERNAL')
     alazar.trigger_level1(100)

validate_status(verbose: bool = False) → None

Validate the values of all gettable parameters

The validation is done for all parameters that have both a get and set method.

Parameters: verbose – If True, then information about the parameters that are being check is printed.

write(cmd: str) → None

Write a command string with NO response to the hardware.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().write(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override write_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

write_raw(cmd: str) → None

Low level method to write a command string to the hardware.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override write.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

api: qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.AlazarATSAPI = api or AlazarATSAPI(dll_path or self.dll_path)

buffer_list: List['Buffer'] = []

parameters: Dict[str, ParameterBase] = {}: All the parameters supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_parameter().

functions: Dict[str, Function] = {}: All the functions supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_function().

submodules: Dict[str, Union['InstrumentModule', 'ChannelTuple']] = {}: All the submodules of this instrument such as channel lists or logical groupings of parameters. Usually populated via add_submodule().

instrument_modules: Dict[str, 'InstrumentModule'] = {}: All the InstrumentModule of this instrument Usually populated via add_submodule().

metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}

qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS9373 module

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS9373.AlazarTech_ATS9373(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any)[source]

Bases: AlazarTech_ATS

This class is the driver for the ATS9373 board.

Note that this board is very similar to ATS9360. Refer to ATS SDK for details.

Note that channels of this board have 12-bit resolution (see IDN()[‘bits_per_sample’]) which means that the raw data that is returned by the card should be converted to uint16 type with a bit shift by 4 bits. Refer to ATS SDK for more infromation.

samples_divisor = 128

__del__() → None: Close the instrument and remove its instance record.

__getitem__(key: str) → Union[Callable[[...], Any], Parameter]: Delegate instrument[‘name’] to parameter or function ‘name’.

__getstate__() → None: Prevent pickling instruments, and give a nice error message.

__repr__() → str: Simplified repr giving just the class and name.

acquire(mode: Optional[str] = None, samples_per_record: Optional[int] = None, records_per_buffer: Optional[int] = None, buffers_per_acquisition: Optional[int] = None, channel_selection: Optional[str] = None, transfer_offset: Optional[int] = None, external_startcapture: Optional[str] = None, enable_record_headers: Optional[str] = None, alloc_buffers: Optional[str] = None, fifo_only_streaming: Optional[str] = None, interleave_samples: Optional[str] = None, get_processed_data: Optional[str] = None, allocated_buffers: Optional[int] = None, buffer_timeout: Optional[int] = None, acquisition_controller: Optional[AcquisitionController[Any]] = None) → OutputType

perform a single acquisition with the Alazar board, and set certain parameters to the appropriate values for the parameters, see the ATS-SDK programmer’s guide

Parameters

mode –
samples_per_record –
records_per_buffer –
buffers_per_acquisition –
channel_selection –
transfer_offset –
external_startcapture –
enable_record_headers –
alloc_buffers –
fifo_only_streaming –
interleave_samples –
get_processed_data –
allocated_buffers –
buffer_timeout –
acquisition_controller – An instance of an acquisition controller that handles the dataflow of an acquisition

Returns

Whatever is given by acquisition_controller.post_acquire method

add_function(name: str, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Function to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real function of the instrument.

This functionality is meant for simple cases, principally things that map to simple commands like *RST (reset) or those with just a few arguments. It requires a fixed argument count, and positional args only. If your case is more complicated, you’re probably better off simply making a new method in your Instrument subclass definition.

Parameters

name – How the Function will be stored within instrument.Functions and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.call(func_name, *args) etc.
**kwargs – constructor kwargs for Function

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a function with this name.

add_parameter(name: str, parameter_class: Optional[Type[ParameterBase]] = None, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Parameter to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real parameter of the instrument.

In this sense, parameters are the state variables of the instrument, anything the user can set and/or get.

Parameters

name – How the parameter will be stored within parameters and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.set(param_name, value) etc.
parameter_class – You can construct the parameter out of any class. Default parameters.Parameter.
**kwargs – Constructor arguments for parameter_class.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a parameter with this name and the parameter being replaced is not an abstract parameter.
ValueError – If there is an existing abstract parameter and the unit of the new parameter is inconsistent with the existing one.

add_submodule(name: str, submodule: Union[InstrumentModule, ChannelTuple]) → None

Bind one submodule to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ method for every submodule of the instrument.

Submodules can effectively be considered as instruments within the main instrument, and should at minimum be snapshottable. For example, they can be used to either store logical groupings of parameters, which may or may not be repeated, or channel lists. They should either be an instance of an InstrumentModule or a ChannelTuple.

Parameters

name – How the submodule will be stored within instrument.submodules and also how it can be addressed.
submodule – The submodule to be stored.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already contains a submodule with this name.
TypeError – If the submodule that we are trying to add is not an instance of an Metadatable object.

allocate_and_post_buffer(sample_type: Union[Type[c_ubyte], Type[c_ushort], Type[c_uint], Type[c_int], Type[c_float]], n_bytes: int) → Buffer

property ancestors: List[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns a list of instruments, starting from the current instrument and following to the parent instrument and the parents parent instrument until the root instrument is reached.

ask(cmd: str) → str

Write a command string to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().ask(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override ask_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Returns: response
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

ask_raw(cmd: str) → str

Low level method to write to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override ask.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

call(func_name: str, *args: Any) → Any

Shortcut for calling a function from its name.

Parameters

func_name – The name of a function of this instrument.
*args – any arguments to the function.

Returns

The return value of the function.

channels = 2

clear_buffers() → None

This method uncommits all buffers that were committed by the driver. This method only has to be called when the acquistion crashes, otherwise the driver will uncommit the buffers itself

Returns: None

close() → None

Irreversibly stop this instrument and free its resources.

Subclasses should override this if they have other specific resources to close.

classmethod close_all() → None

Try to close all instruments registered in _all_instruments This is handy for use with atexit to ensure that all instruments are closed when a python session is closed.

Examples

>>> atexit.register(qc.Instrument.close_all())

connect_message(idn_param: str = 'IDN', begin_time: Optional[float] = None) → None

Print a standard message on initial connection to an instrument.

Parameters

idn_param – Name of parameter that returns ID dict. Default IDN.
begin_time – time.time() when init started. Default is self._t0, set at start of Instrument.__init__.

delegate_attr_dicts: List[str] = ['parameters', 'functions', 'submodules']: A list of names (strings) of dictionaries which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose keys should be treated as attributes of self.

delegate_attr_objects: List[str] = []: A list of names (strings) of objects which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose attributes should be passed through to self.

dll_path = 'C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\ATSApi'

static exist(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[type] = None) → bool

Check if an instrument with a given names exists (i.e. is already instantiated).

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

classmethod find_boards(dll_path: Optional[str] = None) → List[Dict[str, Any]]

Find connected Alazar boards

Parameters: dll_path – path to the Alazar API DLL library
Returns: list of board info dictionaries for each connected board

classmethod find_instrument(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[Type[T]] = None) → T

Find an existing instrument by name.

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

Returns

The instrument found.

Raises

KeyError – If no instrument of that name was found, or if its reference is invalid (dead).
TypeError – If a specific class was requested but a different type was found.

property full_name: str

get(param_name: str) → Any

Shortcut for getting a parameter from its name.

Parameters: param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
Returns: The current value of the parameter.

classmethod get_board_info(api: AlazarATSAPI, system_id: int, board_id: int) → Dict[str, Union[str, int]]

Get the information from a connected Alazar board

Parameters

api – An AlazarATSAPI that wraps around the CTypes CDLL
system_id – id of the Alazar system
board_id – id of the board within the alazar system

Returns

Dictionary containing

system_id

board_id

board_kind (as string)

max_samples

bits_per_sample

get_idn() → Dict[str, Optional[Union[str, int]]]

This methods gets the most relevant information of this instrument

The firmware version reported should match the version number of downloadable fw files from AlazarTech. But note that the firmware version has often been found to be incorrect for several firmware versions. At the time of writing it is known to be correct for the 9360 (v 21.07) and 9373 (v 30.04) but incorrect for several earlier versions. In Alazar DSO this is reported as FPGA Version.

Returns

Dictionary containing

’firmware’: as string
’model’: as string
’serial’: board serial number
’vendor’: ‘AlazarTech’
’CPLD_version’: version of the CPLD
’driver_version’: version of the driver dll
’SDK_version’: version of the SDK
’latest_cal_date’: date of the latest calibration (as string)
’memory_size’: size of the memory in samples
’asopc_type’: type of asopc (as decimal number)
’pcie_link_speed’: the speed of a single pcie link (in GB/s)
’pcie_link_width’: number of pcie links
’bits_per_sample’: number of bits per one sample
’max_samples’: board memory size in samples

static get_num_channels(byte_rep: int) → int

Return the number of channels for a specific channel mask

Each single channel is represented by a bitarray with one non zero entry i.e. powers of two. All multichannel masks can be constructed by summing the single channel ones. However, not all configurations are supported. See table 4 Input Channel Configurations on page 241 of the Alazar SDK manual. This contains the complete mapping for all current Alazar cards. It’s left to the driver to ensure that only the ones supported for a specific card can be selected

get_sample_rate(include_decimation: bool = True) → float

Obtain the effective sampling rate of the acquisition based on clock speed and decimation

Returns: the number of samples (per channel) per second

classmethod instances() → List[Instrument]

Get all currently defined instances of this instrument class.

You can use this to get the objects back if you lose track of them, and it’s also used by the test system to find objects to test against.

Returns: A list of instances.

invalidate_cache() → None

Invalidate the cache of all parameters on the instrument. Calling this method will recursively mark the cache of all parameters on the instrument and any parameter on instrument modules as invalid.

This is useful if you have performed manual operations (e.g. using the frontpanel) which changes the state of the instrument outside QCoDeS.

This in turn means that the next snapshot of the instrument will trigger a (potentially slow) reread of all parameters of the instrument if you pass update=None to snapshot.

static is_valid(instr_instance: Instrument) → bool

Check if a given instance of an instrument is valid: if an instrument has been closed, its instance is not longer a “valid” instrument.

Parameters: instr_instance – Instance of an Instrument class or its subclass.

load_metadata(metadata: Mapping[str, Any]) → None

Load metadata into this classes metadata dictionary.

Parameters: metadata – Metadata to load.

property name: str: Name of the instrument This is equivalent to full_name for backwards compatibility.

property name_parts: List[str]

omit_delegate_attrs: List[str] = []: A list of attribute names (strings) to not delegate to any other dictionary or object.

property parent: Optional[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns the parent instrument. By default this is None. Any SubInstrument should subclass this to return the parent instrument.

print_readable_snapshot(update: bool = False, max_chars: int = 80) → None

Prints a readable version of the snapshot. The readable snapshot includes the name, value and unit of each parameter. A convenience function to quickly get an overview of the status of an instrument.

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If False, just use the latest values in memory. This argument gets passed to the snapshot function.
max_chars – the maximum number of characters per line. The readable snapshot will be cropped if this value is exceeded. Defaults to 80 to be consistent with default terminal width.

classmethod record_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Record (a weak ref to) an instance in a class’s instance list.

Also records the instance in list of all instruments, and verifies that there are no other instruments with the same name.

This method is called after initialization of the instrument is completed.

Parameters: instance – Instance to record.
Raises: KeyError – If another instance with the same name is already present.

classmethod remove_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Remove a particular instance from the record.

Parameters: instance – The instance to remove

property root_instrument: qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase

set(param_name: str, value: Any) → None

Shortcut for setting a parameter from its name and new value.

Parameters

param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
value – The new value to set.

shared_kwargs = ()

property short_name: str: Short name of the instrument

signal_to_volt(channel: int, signal: float) → float

convert a value from a buffer to an actual value in volts based on the ranges of the channel

Parameters

channel – number of the channel where the signal value came from
signal – the value that needs to be converted

Returns

the corresponding value in volts

snapshot(update: Optional[bool] = False) → Dict[Any, Any]

Decorate a snapshot dictionary with metadata. DO NOT override this method if you want metadata in the snapshot instead, override snapshot_base().

Parameters: update – Passed to snapshot_base.
Returns: Base snapshot.

snapshot_base(update: Optional[bool] = False, params_to_skip_update: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None) → Dict[Any, Any]

State of the instrument as a JSON-compatible dict (everything that the custom JSON encoder class NumpyJSONEncoder supports).

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If None update the state if known to be invalid. If False, just use the latest values in memory and never update state.
params_to_skip_update – List of parameter names that will be skipped in update even if update is True. This is useful if you have parameters that are slow to update but can be updated in a different way (as in the qdac). If you want to skip the update of certain parameters in all snapshots, use the snapshot_get attribute of those parameters instead.

Returns

base snapshot

Return type

dict

sync_settings_to_card() → None: Syncs all parameters to Alazar card

syncing() → Iterator[None]

Context manager for syncing settings to Alazar card. It will automatically call sync_settings_to_card at the end of the context.

Example

This is intended to be used around multiple parameter sets to ensure syncing is done exactly once:

with alazar.syncing():
     alazar.trigger_source1('EXTERNAL')
     alazar.trigger_level1(100)

validate_status(verbose: bool = False) → None

Validate the values of all gettable parameters

The validation is done for all parameters that have both a get and set method.

Parameters: verbose – If True, then information about the parameters that are being check is printed.

write(cmd: str) → None

Write a command string with NO response to the hardware.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().write(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override write_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

write_raw(cmd: str) → None

Low level method to write a command string to the hardware.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override write.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

api: qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.AlazarATSAPI = api or AlazarATSAPI(dll_path or self.dll_path)

buffer_list: List['Buffer'] = []

parameters: Dict[str, ParameterBase] = {}: All the parameters supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_parameter().

functions: Dict[str, Function] = {}: All the functions supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_function().

submodules: Dict[str, Union['InstrumentModule', 'ChannelTuple']] = {}: All the submodules of this instrument such as channel lists or logical groupings of parameters. Usually populated via add_submodule().

instrument_modules: Dict[str, 'InstrumentModule'] = {}: All the InstrumentModule of this instrument Usually populated via add_submodule().

metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}

qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS9440 module

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS9440.AlazarTech_ATS9440(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any)[source]

Bases: AlazarTech_ATS

This class is the driver for the ATS9440 board it inherits from the ATS base class

samples_divisor = 32

channels = 4

__del__() → None: Close the instrument and remove its instance record.

__getitem__(key: str) → Union[Callable[[...], Any], Parameter]: Delegate instrument[‘name’] to parameter or function ‘name’.

__getstate__() → None: Prevent pickling instruments, and give a nice error message.

__repr__() → str: Simplified repr giving just the class and name.

acquire(mode: Optional[str] = None, samples_per_record: Optional[int] = None, records_per_buffer: Optional[int] = None, buffers_per_acquisition: Optional[int] = None, channel_selection: Optional[str] = None, transfer_offset: Optional[int] = None, external_startcapture: Optional[str] = None, enable_record_headers: Optional[str] = None, alloc_buffers: Optional[str] = None, fifo_only_streaming: Optional[str] = None, interleave_samples: Optional[str] = None, get_processed_data: Optional[str] = None, allocated_buffers: Optional[int] = None, buffer_timeout: Optional[int] = None, acquisition_controller: Optional[AcquisitionController[Any]] = None) → OutputType

perform a single acquisition with the Alazar board, and set certain parameters to the appropriate values for the parameters, see the ATS-SDK programmer’s guide

Parameters

mode –
samples_per_record –
records_per_buffer –
buffers_per_acquisition –
channel_selection –
transfer_offset –
external_startcapture –
enable_record_headers –
alloc_buffers –
fifo_only_streaming –
interleave_samples –
get_processed_data –
allocated_buffers –
buffer_timeout –
acquisition_controller – An instance of an acquisition controller that handles the dataflow of an acquisition

Returns

Whatever is given by acquisition_controller.post_acquire method

add_function(name: str, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Function to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real function of the instrument.

This functionality is meant for simple cases, principally things that map to simple commands like *RST (reset) or those with just a few arguments. It requires a fixed argument count, and positional args only. If your case is more complicated, you’re probably better off simply making a new method in your Instrument subclass definition.

Parameters

name – How the Function will be stored within instrument.Functions and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.call(func_name, *args) etc.
**kwargs – constructor kwargs for Function

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a function with this name.

add_parameter(name: str, parameter_class: Optional[Type[ParameterBase]] = None, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Parameter to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real parameter of the instrument.

In this sense, parameters are the state variables of the instrument, anything the user can set and/or get.

Parameters

name – How the parameter will be stored within parameters and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.set(param_name, value) etc.
parameter_class – You can construct the parameter out of any class. Default parameters.Parameter.
**kwargs – Constructor arguments for parameter_class.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a parameter with this name and the parameter being replaced is not an abstract parameter.
ValueError – If there is an existing abstract parameter and the unit of the new parameter is inconsistent with the existing one.

add_submodule(name: str, submodule: Union[InstrumentModule, ChannelTuple]) → None

Bind one submodule to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ method for every submodule of the instrument.

Submodules can effectively be considered as instruments within the main instrument, and should at minimum be snapshottable. For example, they can be used to either store logical groupings of parameters, which may or may not be repeated, or channel lists. They should either be an instance of an InstrumentModule or a ChannelTuple.

Parameters

name – How the submodule will be stored within instrument.submodules and also how it can be addressed.
submodule – The submodule to be stored.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already contains a submodule with this name.
TypeError – If the submodule that we are trying to add is not an instance of an Metadatable object.

allocate_and_post_buffer(sample_type: Union[Type[c_ubyte], Type[c_ushort], Type[c_uint], Type[c_int], Type[c_float]], n_bytes: int) → Buffer

property ancestors: List[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns a list of instruments, starting from the current instrument and following to the parent instrument and the parents parent instrument until the root instrument is reached.

ask(cmd: str) → str

Write a command string to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().ask(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override ask_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Returns: response
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

ask_raw(cmd: str) → str

Low level method to write to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override ask.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

call(func_name: str, *args: Any) → Any

Shortcut for calling a function from its name.

Parameters

func_name – The name of a function of this instrument.
*args – any arguments to the function.

Returns

The return value of the function.

clear_buffers() → None

This method uncommits all buffers that were committed by the driver. This method only has to be called when the acquistion crashes, otherwise the driver will uncommit the buffers itself

Returns: None

close() → None

Irreversibly stop this instrument and free its resources.

Subclasses should override this if they have other specific resources to close.

classmethod close_all() → None

Try to close all instruments registered in _all_instruments This is handy for use with atexit to ensure that all instruments are closed when a python session is closed.

Examples

>>> atexit.register(qc.Instrument.close_all())

connect_message(idn_param: str = 'IDN', begin_time: Optional[float] = None) → None

Print a standard message on initial connection to an instrument.

Parameters

idn_param – Name of parameter that returns ID dict. Default IDN.
begin_time – time.time() when init started. Default is self._t0, set at start of Instrument.__init__.

delegate_attr_dicts: List[str] = ['parameters', 'functions', 'submodules']: A list of names (strings) of dictionaries which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose keys should be treated as attributes of self.

delegate_attr_objects: List[str] = []: A list of names (strings) of objects which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose attributes should be passed through to self.

dll_path = 'C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\ATSApi'

static exist(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[type] = None) → bool

Check if an instrument with a given names exists (i.e. is already instantiated).

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

classmethod find_boards(dll_path: Optional[str] = None) → List[Dict[str, Any]]

Find connected Alazar boards

Parameters: dll_path – path to the Alazar API DLL library
Returns: list of board info dictionaries for each connected board

classmethod find_instrument(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[Type[T]] = None) → T

Find an existing instrument by name.

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

Returns

The instrument found.

Raises

KeyError – If no instrument of that name was found, or if its reference is invalid (dead).
TypeError – If a specific class was requested but a different type was found.

property full_name: str

get(param_name: str) → Any

Shortcut for getting a parameter from its name.

Parameters: param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
Returns: The current value of the parameter.

classmethod get_board_info(api: AlazarATSAPI, system_id: int, board_id: int) → Dict[str, Union[str, int]]

Get the information from a connected Alazar board

Parameters

api – An AlazarATSAPI that wraps around the CTypes CDLL
system_id – id of the Alazar system
board_id – id of the board within the alazar system

Returns

Dictionary containing

system_id

board_id

board_kind (as string)

max_samples

bits_per_sample

get_idn() → Dict[str, Optional[Union[str, int]]]

This methods gets the most relevant information of this instrument

The firmware version reported should match the version number of downloadable fw files from AlazarTech. But note that the firmware version has often been found to be incorrect for several firmware versions. At the time of writing it is known to be correct for the 9360 (v 21.07) and 9373 (v 30.04) but incorrect for several earlier versions. In Alazar DSO this is reported as FPGA Version.

Returns

Dictionary containing

’firmware’: as string
’model’: as string
’serial’: board serial number
’vendor’: ‘AlazarTech’
’CPLD_version’: version of the CPLD
’driver_version’: version of the driver dll
’SDK_version’: version of the SDK
’latest_cal_date’: date of the latest calibration (as string)
’memory_size’: size of the memory in samples
’asopc_type’: type of asopc (as decimal number)
’pcie_link_speed’: the speed of a single pcie link (in GB/s)
’pcie_link_width’: number of pcie links
’bits_per_sample’: number of bits per one sample
’max_samples’: board memory size in samples

static get_num_channels(byte_rep: int) → int

Return the number of channels for a specific channel mask

Each single channel is represented by a bitarray with one non zero entry i.e. powers of two. All multichannel masks can be constructed by summing the single channel ones. However, not all configurations are supported. See table 4 Input Channel Configurations on page 241 of the Alazar SDK manual. This contains the complete mapping for all current Alazar cards. It’s left to the driver to ensure that only the ones supported for a specific card can be selected

get_sample_rate(include_decimation: bool = True) → float

Obtain the effective sampling rate of the acquisition based on clock speed and decimation

Returns: the number of samples (per channel) per second

classmethod instances() → List[Instrument]

Get all currently defined instances of this instrument class.

You can use this to get the objects back if you lose track of them, and it’s also used by the test system to find objects to test against.

Returns: A list of instances.

invalidate_cache() → None

Invalidate the cache of all parameters on the instrument. Calling this method will recursively mark the cache of all parameters on the instrument and any parameter on instrument modules as invalid.

This is useful if you have performed manual operations (e.g. using the frontpanel) which changes the state of the instrument outside QCoDeS.

This in turn means that the next snapshot of the instrument will trigger a (potentially slow) reread of all parameters of the instrument if you pass update=None to snapshot.

static is_valid(instr_instance: Instrument) → bool

Check if a given instance of an instrument is valid: if an instrument has been closed, its instance is not longer a “valid” instrument.

Parameters: instr_instance – Instance of an Instrument class or its subclass.

load_metadata(metadata: Mapping[str, Any]) → None

Load metadata into this classes metadata dictionary.

Parameters: metadata – Metadata to load.

property name: str: Name of the instrument This is equivalent to full_name for backwards compatibility.

property name_parts: List[str]

omit_delegate_attrs: List[str] = []: A list of attribute names (strings) to not delegate to any other dictionary or object.

property parent: Optional[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns the parent instrument. By default this is None. Any SubInstrument should subclass this to return the parent instrument.

print_readable_snapshot(update: bool = False, max_chars: int = 80) → None

Prints a readable version of the snapshot. The readable snapshot includes the name, value and unit of each parameter. A convenience function to quickly get an overview of the status of an instrument.

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If False, just use the latest values in memory. This argument gets passed to the snapshot function.
max_chars – the maximum number of characters per line. The readable snapshot will be cropped if this value is exceeded. Defaults to 80 to be consistent with default terminal width.

classmethod record_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Record (a weak ref to) an instance in a class’s instance list.

Also records the instance in list of all instruments, and verifies that there are no other instruments with the same name.

This method is called after initialization of the instrument is completed.

Parameters: instance – Instance to record.
Raises: KeyError – If another instance with the same name is already present.

classmethod remove_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Remove a particular instance from the record.

Parameters: instance – The instance to remove

property root_instrument: qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase

set(param_name: str, value: Any) → None

Shortcut for setting a parameter from its name and new value.

Parameters

param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
value – The new value to set.

shared_kwargs = ()

property short_name: str: Short name of the instrument

signal_to_volt(channel: int, signal: float) → float

convert a value from a buffer to an actual value in volts based on the ranges of the channel

Parameters

channel – number of the channel where the signal value came from
signal – the value that needs to be converted

Returns

the corresponding value in volts

snapshot(update: Optional[bool] = False) → Dict[Any, Any]

Decorate a snapshot dictionary with metadata. DO NOT override this method if you want metadata in the snapshot instead, override snapshot_base().

Parameters: update – Passed to snapshot_base.
Returns: Base snapshot.

snapshot_base(update: Optional[bool] = False, params_to_skip_update: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None) → Dict[Any, Any]

State of the instrument as a JSON-compatible dict (everything that the custom JSON encoder class NumpyJSONEncoder supports).

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If None update the state if known to be invalid. If False, just use the latest values in memory and never update state.
params_to_skip_update – List of parameter names that will be skipped in update even if update is True. This is useful if you have parameters that are slow to update but can be updated in a different way (as in the qdac). If you want to skip the update of certain parameters in all snapshots, use the snapshot_get attribute of those parameters instead.

Returns

base snapshot

Return type

dict

sync_settings_to_card() → None: Syncs all parameters to Alazar card

syncing() → Iterator[None]

Context manager for syncing settings to Alazar card. It will automatically call sync_settings_to_card at the end of the context.

Example

This is intended to be used around multiple parameter sets to ensure syncing is done exactly once:

with alazar.syncing():
     alazar.trigger_source1('EXTERNAL')
     alazar.trigger_level1(100)

validate_status(verbose: bool = False) → None

Validate the values of all gettable parameters

The validation is done for all parameters that have both a get and set method.

Parameters: verbose – If True, then information about the parameters that are being check is printed.

write(cmd: str) → None

Write a command string with NO response to the hardware.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().write(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override write_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

write_raw(cmd: str) → None

Low level method to write a command string to the hardware.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override write.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

api: qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.AlazarATSAPI = api or AlazarATSAPI(dll_path or self.dll_path)

buffer_list: List['Buffer'] = []

parameters: Dict[str, ParameterBase] = {}: All the parameters supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_parameter().

functions: Dict[str, Function] = {}: All the functions supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_function().

submodules: Dict[str, Union['InstrumentModule', 'ChannelTuple']] = {}: All the submodules of this instrument such as channel lists or logical groupings of parameters. Usually populated via add_submodule().

instrument_modules: Dict[str, 'InstrumentModule'] = {}: All the InstrumentModule of this instrument Usually populated via add_submodule().

metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}

qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS9870 module

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS9870.AlazarTech_ATS9870(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any)[source]

Bases: AlazarTech_ATS

This class is the driver for the ATS9870 board it inherits from the ATS base class

It creates all necessary parameters for the Alazar card

__del__() → None: Close the instrument and remove its instance record.

__getitem__(key: str) → Union[Callable[[...], Any], Parameter]: Delegate instrument[‘name’] to parameter or function ‘name’.

__getstate__() → None: Prevent pickling instruments, and give a nice error message.

__repr__() → str: Simplified repr giving just the class and name.

acquire(mode: Optional[str] = None, samples_per_record: Optional[int] = None, records_per_buffer: Optional[int] = None, buffers_per_acquisition: Optional[int] = None, channel_selection: Optional[str] = None, transfer_offset: Optional[int] = None, external_startcapture: Optional[str] = None, enable_record_headers: Optional[str] = None, alloc_buffers: Optional[str] = None, fifo_only_streaming: Optional[str] = None, interleave_samples: Optional[str] = None, get_processed_data: Optional[str] = None, allocated_buffers: Optional[int] = None, buffer_timeout: Optional[int] = None, acquisition_controller: Optional[AcquisitionController[Any]] = None) → OutputType

perform a single acquisition with the Alazar board, and set certain parameters to the appropriate values for the parameters, see the ATS-SDK programmer’s guide

Parameters

mode –
samples_per_record –
records_per_buffer –
buffers_per_acquisition –
channel_selection –
transfer_offset –
external_startcapture –
enable_record_headers –
alloc_buffers –
fifo_only_streaming –
interleave_samples –
get_processed_data –
allocated_buffers –
buffer_timeout –
acquisition_controller – An instance of an acquisition controller that handles the dataflow of an acquisition

Returns

Whatever is given by acquisition_controller.post_acquire method

add_function(name: str, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Function to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real function of the instrument.

This functionality is meant for simple cases, principally things that map to simple commands like *RST (reset) or those with just a few arguments. It requires a fixed argument count, and positional args only. If your case is more complicated, you’re probably better off simply making a new method in your Instrument subclass definition.

Parameters

name – How the Function will be stored within instrument.Functions and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.call(func_name, *args) etc.
**kwargs – constructor kwargs for Function

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a function with this name.

add_parameter(name: str, parameter_class: Optional[Type[ParameterBase]] = None, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Parameter to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real parameter of the instrument.

In this sense, parameters are the state variables of the instrument, anything the user can set and/or get.

Parameters

name – How the parameter will be stored within parameters and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.set(param_name, value) etc.
parameter_class – You can construct the parameter out of any class. Default parameters.Parameter.
**kwargs – Constructor arguments for parameter_class.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a parameter with this name and the parameter being replaced is not an abstract parameter.
ValueError – If there is an existing abstract parameter and the unit of the new parameter is inconsistent with the existing one.

add_submodule(name: str, submodule: Union[InstrumentModule, ChannelTuple]) → None

Bind one submodule to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ method for every submodule of the instrument.

Submodules can effectively be considered as instruments within the main instrument, and should at minimum be snapshottable. For example, they can be used to either store logical groupings of parameters, which may or may not be repeated, or channel lists. They should either be an instance of an InstrumentModule or a ChannelTuple.

Parameters

name – How the submodule will be stored within instrument.submodules and also how it can be addressed.
submodule – The submodule to be stored.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already contains a submodule with this name.
TypeError – If the submodule that we are trying to add is not an instance of an Metadatable object.

allocate_and_post_buffer(sample_type: Union[Type[c_ubyte], Type[c_ushort], Type[c_uint], Type[c_int], Type[c_float]], n_bytes: int) → Buffer

property ancestors: List[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns a list of instruments, starting from the current instrument and following to the parent instrument and the parents parent instrument until the root instrument is reached.

ask(cmd: str) → str

Write a command string to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().ask(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override ask_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Returns: response
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

ask_raw(cmd: str) → str

Low level method to write to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override ask.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

call(func_name: str, *args: Any) → Any

Shortcut for calling a function from its name.

Parameters

func_name – The name of a function of this instrument.
*args – any arguments to the function.

Returns

The return value of the function.

channels = 2

clear_buffers() → None

This method uncommits all buffers that were committed by the driver. This method only has to be called when the acquistion crashes, otherwise the driver will uncommit the buffers itself

Returns: None

close() → None

Irreversibly stop this instrument and free its resources.

Subclasses should override this if they have other specific resources to close.

classmethod close_all() → None

Try to close all instruments registered in _all_instruments This is handy for use with atexit to ensure that all instruments are closed when a python session is closed.

Examples

>>> atexit.register(qc.Instrument.close_all())

connect_message(idn_param: str = 'IDN', begin_time: Optional[float] = None) → None

Print a standard message on initial connection to an instrument.

Parameters

idn_param – Name of parameter that returns ID dict. Default IDN.
begin_time – time.time() when init started. Default is self._t0, set at start of Instrument.__init__.

delegate_attr_dicts: List[str] = ['parameters', 'functions', 'submodules']: A list of names (strings) of dictionaries which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose keys should be treated as attributes of self.

delegate_attr_objects: List[str] = []: A list of names (strings) of objects which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose attributes should be passed through to self.

dll_path = 'C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\ATSApi'

static exist(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[type] = None) → bool

Check if an instrument with a given names exists (i.e. is already instantiated).

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

classmethod find_boards(dll_path: Optional[str] = None) → List[Dict[str, Any]]

Find connected Alazar boards

Parameters: dll_path – path to the Alazar API DLL library
Returns: list of board info dictionaries for each connected board

classmethod find_instrument(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[Type[T]] = None) → T

Find an existing instrument by name.

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

Returns

The instrument found.

Raises

KeyError – If no instrument of that name was found, or if its reference is invalid (dead).
TypeError – If a specific class was requested but a different type was found.

property full_name: str

get(param_name: str) → Any

Shortcut for getting a parameter from its name.

Parameters: param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
Returns: The current value of the parameter.

classmethod get_board_info(api: AlazarATSAPI, system_id: int, board_id: int) → Dict[str, Union[str, int]]

Get the information from a connected Alazar board

Parameters

api – An AlazarATSAPI that wraps around the CTypes CDLL
system_id – id of the Alazar system
board_id – id of the board within the alazar system

Returns

Dictionary containing

system_id

board_id

board_kind (as string)

max_samples

bits_per_sample

get_idn() → Dict[str, Optional[Union[str, int]]]

This methods gets the most relevant information of this instrument

The firmware version reported should match the version number of downloadable fw files from AlazarTech. But note that the firmware version has often been found to be incorrect for several firmware versions. At the time of writing it is known to be correct for the 9360 (v 21.07) and 9373 (v 30.04) but incorrect for several earlier versions. In Alazar DSO this is reported as FPGA Version.

Returns

Dictionary containing

’firmware’: as string
’model’: as string
’serial’: board serial number
’vendor’: ‘AlazarTech’
’CPLD_version’: version of the CPLD
’driver_version’: version of the driver dll
’SDK_version’: version of the SDK
’latest_cal_date’: date of the latest calibration (as string)
’memory_size’: size of the memory in samples
’asopc_type’: type of asopc (as decimal number)
’pcie_link_speed’: the speed of a single pcie link (in GB/s)
’pcie_link_width’: number of pcie links
’bits_per_sample’: number of bits per one sample
’max_samples’: board memory size in samples

static get_num_channels(byte_rep: int) → int

Return the number of channels for a specific channel mask

Each single channel is represented by a bitarray with one non zero entry i.e. powers of two. All multichannel masks can be constructed by summing the single channel ones. However, not all configurations are supported. See table 4 Input Channel Configurations on page 241 of the Alazar SDK manual. This contains the complete mapping for all current Alazar cards. It’s left to the driver to ensure that only the ones supported for a specific card can be selected

get_sample_rate(include_decimation: bool = True) → float

Obtain the effective sampling rate of the acquisition based on clock speed and decimation

Returns: the number of samples (per channel) per second

classmethod instances() → List[Instrument]

Get all currently defined instances of this instrument class.

You can use this to get the objects back if you lose track of them, and it’s also used by the test system to find objects to test against.

Returns: A list of instances.

invalidate_cache() → None

Invalidate the cache of all parameters on the instrument. Calling this method will recursively mark the cache of all parameters on the instrument and any parameter on instrument modules as invalid.

This is useful if you have performed manual operations (e.g. using the frontpanel) which changes the state of the instrument outside QCoDeS.

This in turn means that the next snapshot of the instrument will trigger a (potentially slow) reread of all parameters of the instrument if you pass update=None to snapshot.

static is_valid(instr_instance: Instrument) → bool

Check if a given instance of an instrument is valid: if an instrument has been closed, its instance is not longer a “valid” instrument.

Parameters: instr_instance – Instance of an Instrument class or its subclass.

load_metadata(metadata: Mapping[str, Any]) → None

Load metadata into this classes metadata dictionary.

Parameters: metadata – Metadata to load.

property name: str: Name of the instrument This is equivalent to full_name for backwards compatibility.

property name_parts: List[str]

omit_delegate_attrs: List[str] = []: A list of attribute names (strings) to not delegate to any other dictionary or object.

property parent: Optional[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns the parent instrument. By default this is None. Any SubInstrument should subclass this to return the parent instrument.

print_readable_snapshot(update: bool = False, max_chars: int = 80) → None

Prints a readable version of the snapshot. The readable snapshot includes the name, value and unit of each parameter. A convenience function to quickly get an overview of the status of an instrument.

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If False, just use the latest values in memory. This argument gets passed to the snapshot function.
max_chars – the maximum number of characters per line. The readable snapshot will be cropped if this value is exceeded. Defaults to 80 to be consistent with default terminal width.

classmethod record_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Record (a weak ref to) an instance in a class’s instance list.

Also records the instance in list of all instruments, and verifies that there are no other instruments with the same name.

This method is called after initialization of the instrument is completed.

Parameters: instance – Instance to record.
Raises: KeyError – If another instance with the same name is already present.

classmethod remove_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Remove a particular instance from the record.

Parameters: instance – The instance to remove

property root_instrument: qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase

set(param_name: str, value: Any) → None

Shortcut for setting a parameter from its name and new value.

Parameters

param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
value – The new value to set.

shared_kwargs = ()

property short_name: str: Short name of the instrument

signal_to_volt(channel: int, signal: float) → float

convert a value from a buffer to an actual value in volts based on the ranges of the channel

Parameters

channel – number of the channel where the signal value came from
signal – the value that needs to be converted

Returns

the corresponding value in volts

snapshot(update: Optional[bool] = False) → Dict[Any, Any]

Decorate a snapshot dictionary with metadata. DO NOT override this method if you want metadata in the snapshot instead, override snapshot_base().

Parameters: update – Passed to snapshot_base.
Returns: Base snapshot.

snapshot_base(update: Optional[bool] = False, params_to_skip_update: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None) → Dict[Any, Any]

State of the instrument as a JSON-compatible dict (everything that the custom JSON encoder class NumpyJSONEncoder supports).

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If None update the state if known to be invalid. If False, just use the latest values in memory and never update state.
params_to_skip_update – List of parameter names that will be skipped in update even if update is True. This is useful if you have parameters that are slow to update but can be updated in a different way (as in the qdac). If you want to skip the update of certain parameters in all snapshots, use the snapshot_get attribute of those parameters instead.

Returns

base snapshot

Return type

dict

sync_settings_to_card() → None: Syncs all parameters to Alazar card

syncing() → Iterator[None]

Context manager for syncing settings to Alazar card. It will automatically call sync_settings_to_card at the end of the context.

Example

This is intended to be used around multiple parameter sets to ensure syncing is done exactly once:

with alazar.syncing():
     alazar.trigger_source1('EXTERNAL')
     alazar.trigger_level1(100)

validate_status(verbose: bool = False) → None

Validate the values of all gettable parameters

The validation is done for all parameters that have both a get and set method.

Parameters: verbose – If True, then information about the parameters that are being check is printed.

write(cmd: str) → None

Write a command string with NO response to the hardware.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().write(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override write_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

write_raw(cmd: str) → None

Low level method to write a command string to the hardware.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override write.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

api: qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.AlazarATSAPI = api or AlazarATSAPI(dll_path or self.dll_path)

buffer_list: List['Buffer'] = []

parameters: Dict[str, ParameterBase] = {}: All the parameters supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_parameter().

functions: Dict[str, Function] = {}: All the functions supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_function().

submodules: Dict[str, Union['InstrumentModule', 'ChannelTuple']] = {}: All the submodules of this instrument such as channel lists or logical groupings of parameters. Usually populated via add_submodule().

instrument_modules: Dict[str, 'InstrumentModule'] = {}: All the InstrumentModule of this instrument Usually populated via add_submodule().

metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}

qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS_acquisition_controllers module

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS_acquisition_controllers.Demodulation_AcquisitionController(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any)[source]

Bases: AcquisitionController[float]

This class represents an example acquisition controller. End users will probably want to use something more sophisticated. It will average all buffers and then perform a fourier transform on the resulting average trace for one frequency component. The amplitude of the result of channel_a will be returned.

Parameters

name – name for this acquisition_conroller as an instrument
alazar_name – the name of the alazar instrument such that this controller can communicate with the Alazar
demodulation_frequency – the selected component for the fourier transform
**kwargs – kwargs are forwarded to the Instrument base class
alazar_name – The name of the alazar instrument.

update_acquisitionkwargs(**kwargs: Any) → None[source]: This method must be used to update the kwargs used for the acquisition with the alazar_driver.acquire :param kwargs: :return:

do_acquisition() → float[source]: this method performs an acquisition, which is the get_cmd for the acquisiion parameter of this instrument :return:

pre_start_capture() → None[source]: See AcquisitionController

pre_acquire() → None[source]: See AcquisitionController :return:

handle_buffer(data: ndarray, buffer_number: Optional[int] = None) → None[source]: See AcquisitionController :return:

post_acquire() → float[source]: See AcquisitionController :return:

fit(buf: ndarray) → Tuple[float, float][source]: the DFT is implemented in this method :param buf: buffer to perform the transform on :return: return amplitude and phase of the resulted transform

__del__() → None: Close the instrument and remove its instance record.

__getitem__(key: str) → Union[Callable[[...], Any], Parameter]: Delegate instrument[‘name’] to parameter or function ‘name’.

__getstate__() → None: Prevent pickling instruments, and give a nice error message.

__repr__() → str: Simplified repr giving just the class and name.

add_function(name: str, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Function to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real function of the instrument.

This functionality is meant for simple cases, principally things that map to simple commands like *RST (reset) or those with just a few arguments. It requires a fixed argument count, and positional args only. If your case is more complicated, you’re probably better off simply making a new method in your Instrument subclass definition.

Parameters

name – How the Function will be stored within instrument.Functions and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.call(func_name, *args) etc.
**kwargs – constructor kwargs for Function

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a function with this name.

add_parameter(name: str, parameter_class: Optional[Type[ParameterBase]] = None, **kwargs: Any) → None

Bind one Parameter to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ for every real parameter of the instrument.

In this sense, parameters are the state variables of the instrument, anything the user can set and/or get.

Parameters

name – How the parameter will be stored within parameters and also how you address it using the shortcut methods: instrument.set(param_name, value) etc.
parameter_class – You can construct the parameter out of any class. Default parameters.Parameter.
**kwargs – Constructor arguments for parameter_class.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already has a parameter with this name and the parameter being replaced is not an abstract parameter.
ValueError – If there is an existing abstract parameter and the unit of the new parameter is inconsistent with the existing one.

add_submodule(name: str, submodule: Union[InstrumentModule, ChannelTuple]) → None

Bind one submodule to this instrument.

Instrument subclasses can call this repeatedly in their __init__ method for every submodule of the instrument.

Submodules can effectively be considered as instruments within the main instrument, and should at minimum be snapshottable. For example, they can be used to either store logical groupings of parameters, which may or may not be repeated, or channel lists. They should either be an instance of an InstrumentModule or a ChannelTuple.

Parameters

name – How the submodule will be stored within instrument.submodules and also how it can be addressed.
submodule – The submodule to be stored.

Raises

KeyError – If this instrument already contains a submodule with this name.
TypeError – If the submodule that we are trying to add is not an instance of an Metadatable object.

property ancestors: List[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns a list of instruments, starting from the current instrument and following to the parent instrument and the parents parent instrument until the root instrument is reached.

ask(cmd: str) → str

Write a command string to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().ask(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override ask_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Returns: response
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

ask_raw(cmd: str) → str

Low level method to write to the hardware and return a response.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override ask.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

buffer_done_callback(buffers_completed: int) → None

This method is called when a buffer is completed. It can be used if you want to implement an event that happens for each buffer. You will probably want to combine this with AUX_IN_TRIGGER_ENABLE to wait before starting capture of the next buffer.

Parameters: buffers_completed – how many buffers have been completed and copied to local memory at the time of this callback.

call(func_name: str, *args: Any) → Any

Shortcut for calling a function from its name.

Parameters

func_name – The name of a function of this instrument.
*args – any arguments to the function.

Returns

The return value of the function.

close() → None

Irreversibly stop this instrument and free its resources.

Subclasses should override this if they have other specific resources to close.

classmethod close_all() → None

Try to close all instruments registered in _all_instruments This is handy for use with atexit to ensure that all instruments are closed when a python session is closed.

Examples

>>> atexit.register(qc.Instrument.close_all())

connect_message(idn_param: str = 'IDN', begin_time: Optional[float] = None) → None

Print a standard message on initial connection to an instrument.

Parameters

idn_param – Name of parameter that returns ID dict. Default IDN.
begin_time – time.time() when init started. Default is self._t0, set at start of Instrument.__init__.

delegate_attr_dicts: List[str] = ['parameters', 'functions', 'submodules']: A list of names (strings) of dictionaries which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose keys should be treated as attributes of self.

delegate_attr_objects: List[str] = []: A list of names (strings) of objects which are (or will be) attributes of self, whose attributes should be passed through to self.

static exist(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[type] = None) → bool

Check if an instrument with a given names exists (i.e. is already instantiated).

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

classmethod find_instrument(name: str, instrument_class: Optional[Type[T]] = None) → T

Find an existing instrument by name.

Parameters

name – Name of the instrument.
instrument_class – The type of instrument you are looking for.

Returns

The instrument found.

Raises

KeyError – If no instrument of that name was found, or if its reference is invalid (dead).
TypeError – If a specific class was requested but a different type was found.

property full_name: str

get(param_name: str) → Any

Shortcut for getting a parameter from its name.

Parameters: param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
Returns: The current value of the parameter.

get_idn() → Dict[str, Optional[str]]

Parse a standard VISA *IDN? response into an ID dict.

Even though this is the VISA standard, it applies to various other types as well, such as IPInstruments, so it is included here in the Instrument base class.

Override this if your instrument does not support *IDN? or returns a nonstandard IDN string. This string is supposed to be a comma-separated list of vendor, model, serial, and firmware, but semicolon and colon are also common separators so we accept them here as well.

Returns: A dict containing vendor, model, serial, and firmware.

classmethod instances() → List[Instrument]

Get all currently defined instances of this instrument class.

You can use this to get the objects back if you lose track of them, and it’s also used by the test system to find objects to test against.

Returns: A list of instances.

invalidate_cache() → None

Invalidate the cache of all parameters on the instrument. Calling this method will recursively mark the cache of all parameters on the instrument and any parameter on instrument modules as invalid.

This is useful if you have performed manual operations (e.g. using the frontpanel) which changes the state of the instrument outside QCoDeS.

This in turn means that the next snapshot of the instrument will trigger a (potentially slow) reread of all parameters of the instrument if you pass update=None to snapshot.

static is_valid(instr_instance: Instrument) → bool

Check if a given instance of an instrument is valid: if an instrument has been closed, its instance is not longer a “valid” instrument.

Parameters: instr_instance – Instance of an Instrument class or its subclass.

load_metadata(metadata: Mapping[str, Any]) → None

Load metadata into this classes metadata dictionary.

Parameters: metadata – Metadata to load.

property name: str: Name of the instrument This is equivalent to full_name for backwards compatibility.

property name_parts: List[str]

omit_delegate_attrs: List[str] = []: A list of attribute names (strings) to not delegate to any other dictionary or object.

property parent: Optional[qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase]: Returns the parent instrument. By default this is None. Any SubInstrument should subclass this to return the parent instrument.

print_readable_snapshot(update: bool = False, max_chars: int = 80) → None

Prints a readable version of the snapshot. The readable snapshot includes the name, value and unit of each parameter. A convenience function to quickly get an overview of the status of an instrument.

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If False, just use the latest values in memory. This argument gets passed to the snapshot function.
max_chars – the maximum number of characters per line. The readable snapshot will be cropped if this value is exceeded. Defaults to 80 to be consistent with default terminal width.

classmethod record_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Record (a weak ref to) an instance in a class’s instance list.

Also records the instance in list of all instruments, and verifies that there are no other instruments with the same name.

This method is called after initialization of the instrument is completed.

Parameters: instance – Instance to record.
Raises: KeyError – If another instance with the same name is already present.

classmethod remove_instance(instance: Instrument) → None

Remove a particular instance from the record.

Parameters: instance – The instance to remove

property root_instrument: qcodes.instrument.instrument_base.InstrumentBase

set(param_name: str, value: Any) → None

Shortcut for setting a parameter from its name and new value.

Parameters

param_name – The name of a parameter of this instrument.
value – The new value to set.

shared_kwargs = ()

property short_name: str: Short name of the instrument

snapshot(update: Optional[bool] = False) → Dict[Any, Any]

Decorate a snapshot dictionary with metadata. DO NOT override this method if you want metadata in the snapshot instead, override snapshot_base().

Parameters: update – Passed to snapshot_base.
Returns: Base snapshot.

snapshot_base(update: Optional[bool] = False, params_to_skip_update: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None) → Dict[Any, Any]

State of the instrument as a JSON-compatible dict (everything that the custom JSON encoder class NumpyJSONEncoder supports).

Parameters

update – If True, update the state by querying the instrument. If None update the state if known to be invalid. If False, just use the latest values in memory and never update state.
params_to_skip_update – List of parameter names that will be skipped in update even if update is True. This is useful if you have parameters that are slow to update but can be updated in a different way (as in the qdac). If you want to skip the update of certain parameters in all snapshots, use the snapshot_get attribute of those parameters instead.

Returns

base snapshot

Return type

dict

validate_status(verbose: bool = False) → None

Validate the values of all gettable parameters

The validation is done for all parameters that have both a get and set method.

Parameters: verbose – If True, then information about the parameters that are being check is printed.

write(cmd: str) → None

Write a command string with NO response to the hardware.

Subclasses that transform cmd should override this method, and in it call super().write(new_cmd). Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should instead override write_raw.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.
Raises: Exception – Wraps any underlying exception with extra context, including the command and the instrument.

write_raw(cmd: str) → None

Low level method to write a command string to the hardware.

Subclasses that define a new hardware communication should override this method. Subclasses that transform cmd should instead override write.

Parameters: cmd – The string to send to the instrument.

parameters: Dict[str, ParameterBase] = {}: All the parameters supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_parameter().

functions: Dict[str, Function] = {}: All the functions supported by this instrument. Usually populated via add_function().

submodules: Dict[str, Union['InstrumentModule', 'ChannelTuple']] = {}: All the submodules of this instrument such as channel lists or logical groupings of parameters. Usually populated via add_submodule().

instrument_modules: Dict[str, 'InstrumentModule'] = {}: All the InstrumentModule of this instrument Usually populated via add_submodule().

metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}

qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api module

This module provides a class that encapsulates Alazar ATS API, AlazarATSAPI. The class is used to expose Alazar API functions of its C library in a python-friendly way.

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.AlazarATSAPI(dll_path: str, *args: Any, **kwargs: Any)[source]

Bases: WrappedDll

A thread-safe wrapper for the ATS API library.

The exposed ATS API functions have snake_case names, may accept python types and qcodes.instrument.parameter.Parameter s as input. The API calls are thread-safe, and are executed in a separate thread. Moreover, behind the scenes it is ensured that only single instance of this class exists per unique ATS API DLL file.

Some of the ATS API functions are also exposed with more convenient signatures. These usually have the same name but with an additional underscore at the end.

BOARD_NAMES = {0: 'ATS_NONE', 1: 'ATS850', 2: 'ATS310', 3: 'ATS330', 4: 'ATS855', 5: 'ATS315', 6: 'ATS335', 7: 'ATS460', 8: 'ATS860', 9: 'ATS660', 10: 'ATS665', 11: 'ATS9462', 12: 'ATS9434', 13: 'ATS9870', 14: 'ATS9350', 15: 'ATS9325', 16: 'ATS9440', 17: 'ATS9410', 18: 'ATS9351', 19: 'ATS9310', 20: 'ATS9461', 21: 'ATS9850', 22: 'ATS9625', 23: 'ATG6500', 24: 'ATS9626', 25: 'ATS9360', 26: 'AXI9870', 27: 'ATS9370', 28: 'ATU7825', 29: 'ATS9373', 30: 'ATS9416', 31: 'ATS9637', 32: 'ATS9120', 33: 'ATS9371', 34: 'ATS9130', 35: 'ATS9352', 36: 'ATS9453'}

signatures: Dict[str, qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.dll_wrapper.Signature] = {'AlazarAbortAsyncRead': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>]), 'AlazarBeforeAsyncRead': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_long'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarBoardsInSystemBySystemID': Signature(return_type=<class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarBusy': Signature(return_type=<class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>]), 'AlazarConfigureAuxIO': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarConfigureRecordAverage': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarErrorToText': Signature(return_type=<class 'ctypes.c_char_p'>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarForceTrigger': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>]), 'AlazarForceTriggerEnable': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>]), 'AlazarFreeBufferU16': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ushort'>]), 'AlazarFreeBufferU8': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ubyte'>]), 'AlazarGetBoardBySystemID': Signature(return_type=<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarGetBoardKind': Signature(return_type=<class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>]), 'AlazarGetCPLDVersion': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ubyte'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ubyte'>]), 'AlazarGetChannelInfo': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_uint'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ubyte'>]), 'AlazarGetDriverVersion': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ubyte'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ubyte'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ubyte'>]), 'AlazarGetParameter': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_ubyte'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_long'>]), 'AlazarGetSDKVersion': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ubyte'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ubyte'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_ubyte'>]), 'AlazarInputControl': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_ubyte'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarNumOfSystems': Signature(return_type=<class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, argument_types=()), 'AlazarPostAsyncBuffer': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarQueryCapability': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_uint'>]), 'AlazarReadRegister': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ats_api.LP_c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarSetBWLimit': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarSetCaptureClock': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarSetExternalTrigger': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarSetLED': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarSetParameter': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_ubyte'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_long'>]), 'AlazarSetRecordSize': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarSetTriggerDelay': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarSetTriggerOperation': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarSetTriggerTimeOut': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarStartCapture': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>]), 'AlazarTriggered': Signature(return_type=<class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>]), 'AlazarWaitAsyncBufferComplete': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>]), 'AlazarWriteRegister': Signature(return_type=<function NewType.<locals>.new_type>, argument_types=[<class 'ctypes.c_void_p'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>, <class 'ctypes.c_uint'>])}: Signatures for loaded DLL functions; It is to be filled with Signature instances for the DLL functions of interest in a subclass.

set_trigger_time_out(handle: int, timeout_ticks: Union[int, ParameterBase]) → ReturnCode[source]

get_board_kind(handle: int) → int[source]

get_channel_info(handle: int, memory_size_in_samples: Any, bits_per_sample: Any) → ReturnCode[source]

get_cpld_version(handle: int, major: Any, minor: Any) → ReturnCode[source]

get_driver_version(major: Any, minor: Any, revision: Any) → ReturnCode[source]

get_sdk_version(major: Any, minor: Any, revision: Any) → ReturnCode[source]

query_capability(handle: int, capability: int, reserved: int, value: Any) → ReturnCode[source]

read_register(handle: int, offset: int, output: Any, password: int) → ReturnCode[source]

write_register(handle: int, offset: int, value: int, password: int) → ReturnCode[source]

num_of_systems() → int[source]

boards_in_system_by_system_id(system_id: int) → int[source]

get_board_by_system_id(system_id: int, board_id: int) → int[source]

get_parameter(handle: int, channel: int, parameter: int, ret_value: Any) → ReturnCode[source]

set_parameter(handle: int, channel: int, parameter: int, value: int) → ReturnCode[source]

set_capture_clock(handle: int, source_id: Union[int, ParameterBase], sample_rate_id_or_value: Union[int, ParameterBase], edge_id: Union[int, ParameterBase], decimation: Union[int, ParameterBase]) → ReturnCode[source]

input_control(handle: int, channel_id: Union[int, ParameterBase], coupling_id: Union[int, ParameterBase], range_id: Union[int, ParameterBase], impedance_id: Union[int, ParameterBase]) → ReturnCode[source]

set_bw_limit(handle: int, channel_id: Union[int, ParameterBase], flag: Union[int, ParameterBase]) → ReturnCode[source]

set_trigger_operation(handle: int, trigger_operation: Union[int, ParameterBase], trigger_engine_id_1: Union[int, ParameterBase], source_id_1: Union[int, ParameterBase], slope_id_1: Union[int, ParameterBase], level_1: Union[int, ParameterBase], trigger_engine_id_2: Union[int, ParameterBase], source_id_2: Union[int, ParameterBase], slope_id_2: Union[int, ParameterBase], level_2: Union[int, ParameterBase]) → ReturnCode[source]

set_external_trigger(handle: int, coupling_id: Union[int, ParameterBase], range_id: Union[int, ParameterBase]) → ReturnCode[source]

set_trigger_delay(handle: int, value: Union[int, ParameterBase]) → ReturnCode[source]

configure_aux_io(handle: int, mode_id: Union[int, ParameterBase], mode_parameter_value: Union[int, ParameterBase]) → ReturnCode[source]

set_record_size(handle: int, pre_trigger_samples: Union[int, ParameterBase], post_trigger_samples: Union[int, ParameterBase]) → ReturnCode[source]

before_async_read(handle: int, channel_select: int, transfer_offset: int, samples_per_record: int, records_per_buffer: int, records_per_acquisition: int, flags: int) → ReturnCode[source]

post_async_buffer(handle: int, buffer: c_void_p, buffer_length: int) → ReturnCode[source]

wait_async_buffer_complete(handle: int, buffer: c_void_p, timeout_in_ms: int) → ReturnCode[source]

start_capture(handle: int) → ReturnCode[source]

abort_async_read(handle: int) → ReturnCode[source]

error_to_text(return_code: ReturnCode) → str[source]

force_trigger(handle: int) → ReturnCode[source]

force_trigger_enable(handle: int) → ReturnCode[source]

busy(handle: int) → int[source]

configure_record_average(handle: int, mode: int, samples_per_record: int, records_per_average: int, options: int) → ReturnCode[source]

free_buffer_u16(handle: int, buffer: Any) → ReturnCode[source]

free_buffer_u8(handle: int, buffer: Any) → ReturnCode[source]

set_led(handle: int, led_on: bool) → ReturnCode[source]

triggered(handle: int) → int[source]

get_board_model(handle: int) → str[source]

get_channel_info_(handle: int) → Tuple[int, int][source]

A more convenient version of get_channel_info() method (AlazarGetChannelInfo).

This method hides the fact that the output values in the original function are written to the provided pointers.

Parameters: handle – Handle of the board of interest
Returns: Tuple of bits per sample and maximum board memory in samples

get_cpld_version_(handle: int) → str[source]

A more convenient version of get_cpld_version() method (AlazarGetCPLDVersion).

This method hides the fact that the output values in the original function are written to the provided pointers.

Parameters: handle – Handle of the board of interest
Returns: Version string in the format “<major>.<minor>”

get_driver_version_() → str[source]

A more convenient version of get_driver_version() method (AlazarGetDriverVersion).

This method hides the fact that the output values in the original function are written to the provided pointers.

Returns: Version string in the format “<major>.<minor>.<revision>”

get_sdk_version_() → str[source]

A more convenient version of get_sdk_version() method (AlazarGetSDKVersion).

This method hides the fact that the output values in the original function are written to the provided pointers.

Returns: Version string in the format “<major>.<minor>.<revision>”

query_capability_(handle: int, capability: int) → int[source]

A more convenient version of query_capability() method (AlazarQueryCapability).

This method hides the fact that the output values in the original function are written to the provided pointers.

Parameters

handle – Handle of the board of interest
capability – An integer identifier of a capability parameter (constants.Capability enumeration encapsulates the available identifiers)

Returns

Value of the requested capability

read_register_(handle: int, offset: int) → int[source]

Read a value from a given offset in the Alazar card’s register.

A more convenient version of read_register() method (AlazarReadRegister).

Parameters

handle – Handle of the board of interest
offset – Offset into the memory to read from

Returns

The value read as an integer

write_register_(handle: int, offset: int, value: int) → None[source]

Write a value to a given offset in the Alazar card’s register.

A more convenient version of write_register() method (AlazarWriteRegister).

Parameters

handle – Handle of the board of interest
offset – The offset in memory to write to
value – The value to write

qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants module

This module defines constants that are used in Alazar ATS API.

Since the original names of the constants are mostly preserved, it is convenient to find the uesful constants here based on the Alazar SDK manual.

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.ClockSource(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

INTERNAL_CLOCK = 1

FAST_EXTERNAL_CLOCK = 2

EXTERNAL_CLOCK = 2

MEDIUM_EXTERNAL_CLOCK = 3

SLOW_EXTERNAL_CLOCK = 4

EXTERNAL_CLOCK_AC = 5

EXTERNAL_CLOCK_DC = 6

EXTERNAL_CLOCK_10MHz_REF = 7

INTERNAL_CLOCK_10MHz_REF = 8

EXTERNAL_CLOCK_10MHz_PXI = 10

INTERNAL_CLOCK_DIV_4 = 15

INTERNAL_CLOCK_DIV_5 = 16

MASTER_CLOCK = 17

INTERNAL_CLOCK_SET_VCO = 18

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.ClockEdge(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

CLOCK_EDGE_RISING = 0

CLOCK_EDGE_FALLING = 1

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.SampleRate(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

SAMPLE_RATE_USER_DEF = 64

SAMPLE_RATE_1KSPS = 1

SAMPLE_RATE_2KSPS = 2

SAMPLE_RATE_5KSPS = 4

SAMPLE_RATE_10KSPS = 8

SAMPLE_RATE_20KSPS = 10

SAMPLE_RATE_50KSPS = 12

SAMPLE_RATE_100KSPS = 14

SAMPLE_RATE_200KSPS = 16

SAMPLE_RATE_500KSPS = 18

SAMPLE_RATE_1MSPS = 20

SAMPLE_RATE_2MSPS = 24

SAMPLE_RATE_5MSPS = 26

SAMPLE_RATE_10MSPS = 28

SAMPLE_RATE_20MSPS = 30

SAMPLE_RATE_25MSPS = 33

SAMPLE_RATE_50MSPS = 34

SAMPLE_RATE_100MSPS = 36

SAMPLE_RATE_125MSPS = 37

SAMPLE_RATE_160MSPS = 38

SAMPLE_RATE_180MSPS = 39

SAMPLE_RATE_200MSPS = 40

SAMPLE_RATE_250MSPS = 43

SAMPLE_RATE_400MSPS = 45

SAMPLE_RATE_500MSPS = 48

SAMPLE_RATE_800MSPS = 50

SAMPLE_RATE_1000MSPS = 53

SAMPLE_RATE_1GSPS = 53

SAMPLE_RATE_1200MSPS = 55

SAMPLE_RATE_1500MSPS = 58

SAMPLE_RATE_1600MSPS = 59

SAMPLE_RATE_1800MSPS = 61

SAMPLE_RATE_2000MSPS = 63

SAMPLE_RATE_2GSPS = 63

SAMPLE_RATE_2400MSPS = 106

SAMPLE_RATE_3000MSPS = 117

SAMPLE_RATE_3GSPS = 117

SAMPLE_RATE_3600MSPS = 123

SAMPLE_RATE_4000MSPS = 128

SAMPLE_RATE_4GSPS = 128

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.Coupling(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

AC_COUPLING = 1

DC_COUPLING = 2

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.InputRange(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

INPUT_RANGE_PM_20_MV = 1

INPUT_RANGE_PM_40_MV = 2

INPUT_RANGE_PM_50_MV = 3

INPUT_RANGE_PM_80_MV = 4

INPUT_RANGE_PM_100_MV = 5

INPUT_RANGE_PM_200_MV = 6

INPUT_RANGE_PM_400_MV = 7

INPUT_RANGE_PM_500_MV = 8

INPUT_RANGE_PM_800_MV = 9

INPUT_RANGE_PM_1_V = 10

INPUT_RANGE_PM_2_V = 11

INPUT_RANGE_PM_4_V = 12

INPUT_RANGE_PM_5_V = 13

INPUT_RANGE_PM_8_V = 14

INPUT_RANGE_PM_10_V = 15

INPUT_RANGE_PM_20_V = 16

INPUT_RANGE_PM_40_V = 17

INPUT_RANGE_PM_16_V = 18

INPUT_RANGE_HIFI = 32

INPUT_RANGE_PM_1_V_25 = 33

INPUT_RANGE_PM_2_V_5 = 37

INPUT_RANGE_PM_125_MV = 40

INPUT_RANGE_PM_250_MV = 48

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.Impedance(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

IMPEDANCE_1M_OHM = 1

IMPEDANCE_50_OHM = 2

IMPEDANCE_75_OHM = 4

IMPEDANCE_300_OHM = 8

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.BandwidthLimit(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

DISABLE = 0

ENABLE = 1

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.TriggerEngine(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

TRIG_ENGINE_J = 0

TRIG_ENGINE_K = 1

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.TriggerEngineOperation(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

TRIG_ENGINE_OP_J = 0

TRIG_ENGINE_OP_K = 1

TRIG_ENGINE_OP_J_OR_K = 2

TRIG_ENGINE_OP_J_AND_K = 3

TRIG_ENGINE_OP_J_XOR_K = 4

TRIG_ENGINE_OP_J_AND_NOT_K = 5

TRIG_ENGINE_OP_NOT_J_AND_K = 6

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.TriggerEngineSource(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

TRIG_CHAN_A = 0

TRIG_CHAN_B = 1

TRIG_EXTERNAL = 2

TRIG_DISABLE = 3

TRIG_CHAN_C = 4

TRIG_CHAN_D = 5

TRIG_CHAN_E = 6

TRIG_CHAN_F = 7

TRIG_CHAN_G = 8

TRIG_CHAN_H = 9

TRIG_CHAN_I = 10

TRIG_CHAN_J = 11

TRIG_CHAN_K = 12

TRIG_CHAN_L = 13

TRIG_CHAN_M = 14

TRIG_CHAN_N = 15

TRIG_CHAN_O = 16

TRIG_CHAN_P = 17

TRIG_PXI_STAR = 256

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.TriggerSlope(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

Used in more than one place, for example, for AUX_IN_TRIGGER_ENABLE Auxiallary IO mode

TRIGGER_SLOPE_POSITIVE = 1

TRIGGER_SLOPE_NEGATIVE = 2

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.ExternalTriggerCoupling(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

AC = 1

DC = 2

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.ExternalTriggerRange(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

ETR_DIV5 = 0

ETR_X1 = 1

ETR_5V = 0

ETR_1V = 1

ETR_TTL = 2

ETR_2V5 = 3

qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.ExternalTriggerAttenuatorRelay: alias of ExternalTriggerRange

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.AuxilaryIO(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

An enumeration.

AUX_OUT_TRIGGER = 0

AUX_OUT_PACER = 2

AUX_OUT_BUSY = 4

AUX_OUT_CLOCK = 6

AUX_OUT_RESERVED = 8

AUX_OUT_CAPTURE_ALMOST_DONE = 10

AUX_OUT_AUXILIARY = 12

AUX_OUT_SERIAL_DATA = 14

AUX_OUT_TRIGGER_ENABLE = 16

AUX_IN_TRIGGER_ENABLE = 1

AUX_IN_DIGITAL_TRIGGER = 3

AUX_IN_GATE = 5

AUX_IN_CAPTURE_ON_DEMAND = 7

AUX_IN_RESET_TIMESTAMP = 9

AUX_IN_SLOW_EXTERNAL_CLOCK = 11

AUX_IN_AUXILIARY = 13

AUX_IN_SERIAL_DATA = 15

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.AutoDMAFlag(value)[source]

Bases: IntFlag

An enumeration.

ADMA_TRADITIONAL_MODE = 0

ADMA_CONTINUOUS_MODE = 256

ADMA_NPT = 512

ADMA_TRIGGERED_STREAMING = 1024

ADMA_EXTERNAL_STARTCAPTURE = 1

ADMA_ENABLE_RECORD_HEADERS = 8

ADMA_FIFO_ONLY_STREAMING = 2048

ADMA_ALLOC_BUFFERS = 32

ADMA_INTERLEAVE_SAMPLES = 4096

ADMA_GET_PROCESSED_DATA = 8192

ADMA_DSP = 16384

ADMA_SINGLE_DMA_CHANNEL = 16

ADMA_ENABLE_RECORD_FOOTERS = 65536

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.Channel(value)[source]

Bases: IntFlag

Flags for selecting channel configuration

ALL = 0

A = 1

B = 2

C = 4

D = 8

E = 16

F = 32

G = 64

H = 128

I = 256

J = 512

K = 1024

L = 2048

M = 4096

N = 8192

O = 16384

P = 32768

class qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.constants.Capability(value)[source]

Bases: IntEnum

Capability identifiers for AlazarATSAPI.query_capability()

GET_SERIAL_NUMBER = 268435492

GET_LATEST_CAL_DATE = 268435494

GET_LATEST_CAL_DATE_MONTH = 268435501

GET_LATEST_CAL_DATE_DAY = 268435502

GET_LATEST_CAL_DATE_YEAR = 268435503

MEMORY_SIZE = 268435498