QCoDeS example with Windfreak SynthUSB3

The Windfreak SynthUSB3 is an RF signal generator.

Setup and testing

Setup

1. Make sure you have QCoDeS set up (see the QCoDeS website or my notebook 14 minutes to QCoDeS.)

2. Plug the instrument into the USB interface of your computer, and run the output to a spectrum analyser so you can see what it’s doing.

3. Edit the code below to set your USB address, and run it.

import time
import qcodes as qc
from qcodes_contrib_drivers.drivers.Windfreak.Windfreak_SynthUSB3 import WindfreakSynthUSB3

qc.Instrument.close_all() # Closes all open instruments, in case there is a duplicate for any reason.
sg_1 = WindfreakSynthUSB3('sg_1','ASRL4')  # Set your USB address here.

Test the connection

Run:

sg_1.identify() # Should print name and serial number of the instrument.

'SynthUSB3 1040'

Test the output state

Check that the instrument correctly reports its output state. You may need to run this command twice to make the instrument respond properly.

sg_1.device_clear()  # Seems to be necessary after an identify() query.
sg_1.output()    # Query the output state

'ON'

Test basic parameters

Run the following commands, and check by looking at your spectrum analyser that they are having the desired effect.

sg_1.frequency(600)  # Set the frequency
sg_1.level(-5)      # Set the level

Closing the connection

After your work is complete, you can close the connection to the instrument with the following command.

sg_1.close()