NAME
Lab::Measurement::Tutorial - Lab::Measurement tutorial
VERSION
version 3.631
How to read the documentation
The documentation of Lab::Measurement can be read on MetaCPAN. The most important starting points are
Lab::Measurement::Installation
Detailed installation instructions.
-
Overview of available back-ends.
-
The table of contents referencing all manual pages.
-
This tutorial.
A old tutorial for the historical interfaces Lab::Instrument and Lab::XPRESS is provided in Lab::Measurement::OldTutorial
Quickstart
In this quickstart we learn how to connect instruments and do simple communication to change instrument settings and perform data acquisition. In this example we use two simple instruments, the HP/Agilent/Keysight 34410A digital multimeter (DMM) and the Stanford Research SR830 lock-in amplifier.
We cover the most important connection types and show how to use them on Linux and Windows:
USB
This uses the USB-TMC protocol. Instruments are connected directly to the measurement PC or via a hub. Very fast.
Lan/VXI11
The recommended Lab-based protocol, if supported by the device, is VXI11. Raw TCP sockets are also supported but do not provide the control commands of VXI11, such as device clear. This is why VXI11 will be more seamless, if available. You might have to create a private LAN to separate you lab devices from the internet.
GPIB
Old IEEE-488 bus. Only option for lots of old equipment in the lab.
Connecting instruments on Linux
Lets use the Agilent DMM with USB on Linux. This requires the USB::TMC driver module installed.
use 5.010;
use Lab::Moose;
my $multimeter = instrument(
type => 'Agilent34410A',
connection_type => 'USB',
);When connecting multiple devices of the same model via USB, we have to provide serial numbers, which are unique for each device:
my $multimeter1 = instrument(
type => 'Agilent34410A',
connection_type => 'USB',
connection_options => {serial => '...'}
);
my $multimeter2 = instrument(
type => 'Agilent34410A',
connection_type => 'USB',
connection_options => {serial => '...'}
);To use the LAN interface, set the connection_type to VXI11 and provide the instrument's IP address with the connection_options hash:
my $multimeter = instrument(
type => 'Agilent34410A',
connection_type => 'VXI11',
connection_options => {host => '192.168.2.20'},
);We connect the SR830 lock-in amplifier via GPIB. This requires that the LinuxGPIB kernel driver and perl bindings are installed as described in Lab::Measurement::Backends. The GPIB address (primary address, short pad), is provided in the connection_options hash:
my $lia = instrument(
type => 'SR830',
connection_type => 'LinuxGPIB',
connection_options => {pad => 1},
);Connecting instruments on Windows
First thing, make sure that VISA is installed (Lab::VISA::Installation). VISA interactive control, part of the VISA installation, can be used to get a list of connected equipment.
We first connect the DMM via USB:
use 5.010;
use Lab::Moose;
my $multimeter = instrument(
type => 'Agilent34410A',
connection_type => 'VISA::USB',
);To use the LAN interface, set the connection_type to VISA::VXI11 and provide the instrument's IP address with the connection_options hash:
my $multimeter = instrument(
type => 'Agilent34410A',
connection_type => 'VISA::VXI11',
connection_options => {host => '192.168.2.20'},
);We connect the SR830 lock-in amplifier via GPIB. This requires that the National Instruments' NI-488 driver is installed in addition to VISA. The GPIB address (primary address, short pad), is provided in the connection_options hash:
my $lia = instrument(
type => 'SR830',
connection_type => 'VISA::GPIB',
connection_options => {pad => 1},
);Listening and talking to the devices
After initializing the multimeter with the instrument function, let us perform some basic operations
# Perform *IDN? query, prints instrument model name
say $multimeter->idn();
# Set range to 10 Volts (if multimeter is in voltage mode)
$multimeter->sense_range(value => 10);
# Perform voltage measurement
my $voltage = $multimeter->get_value();And for the SR830 lock-in amplifier:
# Set reference frequeny to 10kHz
$lia->set_frq(value => 10e3);
# Set output voltage amplitude to 0.5 V
$lia->set_amplitude(value => 0.5);
# Set sensitivity to 1mV
$lia->set_sens(value => 1e-3);
# Set filter slope to 18dB/oct
$lia->set_filter_slope(value => 18);
# Read x/y measurement data
my $xy = $lia->get_xy();
# Print contents of $xy hashref
say "x = $xy->{x}, y = $xy->{y}";More instrument drivers
Examples of more advanced types of instruments. Note that when using sources (voltage, magnetic field, temperature) we will not interface the instrument object directly. Instead we use the high-level sweep interfaces described below. These provide a common API for creating both discrete and continuous sweeps.
Voltage/Current source drivers
Far a voltage/current source, the instrument initialization requires several additional parameters, which enforce step/rate limits to provide more safety.
my $yoko = instrument(
type => 'YokogawaGS200',
connection_type => 'USB',
max_units_per_step => 0.001,
max_units_per_second => 0.01,
min_units => -10,
max_units => 10,
);Use set_level to set output level to 9 Volts. The source will sweep with stepsize and speed given by the max_units_per_step/max_units_per_second parameters.
$yoko->set_level(value => 9);Read the new level value from cache:
my $level = $yoko->cached_level();Magnet power supplies
my $ips = instrument(
type => 'OI_Mercury::Magnet',
connection_type => 'Socket',
connection_options => {host => '192.168.3.15'},
);The following commands perform a continuous sweep of the magnetic field from 0T to 0.5T with a rate of 0.1T/min
# Set field setpoint and rate
$ips->config_sweep(point => 0.5, rate => 0.1);
# Start (trigger) sweep
$ips->trg();
# Show progress until sweep is finished
$ips->wait();A more high-level interface for creating continuous sweeps is described below.
Spectrum analyzers
The spectrum data is returned as a PDL (2D).
my $analyzer = instrument(
type => 'RS_FSV',
connection_type => 'VXI11',
connection_options => {host => '...'},
);
# Set sweep start/stop frequencies
$analyzer->sense_frequency_start(value => 1e9);
$analyzer->sense_frequency_stop(value => 1e9);
# Perform sweep, get data as PDL
my $data = $analyzer->get_spectrum(timeout => 100);
# Print data
say $data;You can always convert a PDL into an ordinary nested arrayref with unpdl:
my $arrayref_2D = $data->unpdl();Sweeps, datafiles, and datafolders
Quickstart: Measuring an IV-curve
As a basic example of a 1D sweepm, we measure an IV curve:
# file: IV.pl
use Lab::Moose; # you get 'use warnings; use strict;' for free
my $source = instrument(
type => 'YokogawaGS200',
connection_type => 'USB',
# Safety limits:
max_units => 10, min_units => -10,
max_units_per_step => 0.1, max_units_per_second => 1
);
my $dmm = instrument(type => 'Agilent34410A', connection_type => 'USB');
my $sweep = sweep(
type => 'Step::Voltage',
instrument => $source,
from => -5, to => 5, step => 0.01
);
my $datafile = sweep_datafile(columns => [qw/voltage current/]);
my $meas = sub {
my $sweep = shift;
$sweep->log(
voltage => $source->cached_level(),
current => $dmm->get_value(),
);
};
$sweep->start(
measurement => $meas,
datafile => $datafile,
);Running this script repeatedly creates output folders MEAS_000, MEAS_001, ... The folders contain the following files:
IV.pl
Copy of the measurement script.
META.yml
YAML file with various metadata (time of script run, username, hostname, copy of the used commandline, Lab::Measurement version, ...).
data.dat
Gnuplot-style datafile:
# voltage current -5 42 -4.99 43 ...
Backsweeps
To also measure the IV in the reverse direction from -5 to 5 volts, we add the backsweep option:
my $sweep = sweep(
type => 'Step::Voltage',
instrument => $source,
from => -5, to => 5, step => 0.01,
backsweep => 1,
);The datafolder
You can change the name of the datafolder by providing a folder argument to the start method:
$sweep->start(
measurement => $meas,
datafile => $datafile,
folder => 'IV_curve'
);This will create output folders with names IV_curve_xxx.
Multiple datafiles
We can create multiple datafiles:
my $datafile1 = sweep_datafile(
filename => 'data1',
columns => [qw/voltage current/]
);
my $datafile2 = sweep_datafile(
filename => 'data2',
columns => [qw/voltage current/]
);
$sweep->start(
measurement => $meas,
datafiles => [$datafile1, $datafile2],
folder => 'IV_curve'
);And in the $meas subroutine, call the sweeps's log method for both datafiles:
my $meas = sub {
my $sweep = shift;
my $voltage = $source->cached_level();
$sweep->log(
datafile => $datafile1,
voltage => $voltage,
current => $dmm1->get_value(),
);
$sweep->log(
datafile => $datafile2,
voltage => $voltage,
current => $dmm2->get_value()
);
};Multi-dimensional sweeps: Datafile dimensions and filename extensions
2D sweeps
Let us start with a simple 2D sweep: we sweep a gate voltage (outer sweep) and a bias voltage and again measure a current:
use Lab::Moose;
# As we use two Yokogawa's, we need to provide USB serial IDs
my $gate_source = instrument(
type => 'YokogawaGS200',
connection_type => 'USB',
connection_options => {serial => '...'},
# Safety limits:
max_units => 10, min_units => -10,
max_units_per_step => 0.1, max_units_per_second => 1
);
my $bias_source = instrument(
type => 'YokogawaGS200',
connection_type => 'USB',
connection_options => {serial => '...'},
# Safety limits:
max_units => 10, min_units => -10,
max_units_per_step => 0.1, max_units_per_second => 1
);
my $dmm = instrument(type => 'Agilent34410A', connection_type => 'USB');
my $gate_sweep = sweep(
type => 'Step::Voltage',
instrument => $gate_source,
from => 0, to => 1, step => 0.1
);
my $bias_sweep = sweep(
type => 'Step::Voltage',
instrument => $bias_source,
from => 0, to => 1, step => 0.1
);
my $datafile = sweep_datafile(columns => [qw/gate bias current/]);
my $meas = sub {
my $sweep = shift;
my $v_gate = $gate_source->cached_level();
my $v_bias = $bias_source->cached_level();
$sweep->log(
gate => $v_gate,
bias => $v_bias,
current => $dmm->get_value(),
);
};
$gate_sweep->start(
slave => $bias_sweep,
measurement => $meas,
datafile => $datafile,
);By default, this will create a 2D block datafile:
# gate bias current
0 0 x
0 0.1 x
0 0.2 x
...
0 1 x
0.1 0 x
0.1 0.1 x
0.1 0.2 x
...
...
1 0 x
...
1 1 xAlternatively, we can create multiple 1D datafiles, one for each value of the gate voltage. We do this by setting the datafile_dim parameter to 1:
$gate_sweep->start(
slave => $bias_sweep,
measurement => $meas,
datafile => $datafile,
datafile_dim => 1
);The output files will be <data_Voltage=0.dat, data_Voltage=0.1.dat, ..., data_Voltage=1.dat> We can customize the Voltage= part in the datafile names by providing a filename extension in the gate sweep:
my $gate_sweep = sweep(
type => 'Step::Voltage',
instrument => $gate_source,
from => 0, to => 1, step => 0.1,
filename_extension => 'Gate=',
);Higher dimensional sweeps
If we create sweeps setups with dimension > 2, the maximum datafile dimension remains 2. E.g. if we create a 3D sweep [Temperature, Gate, Bias], a 2D datafile will be created for each value of the temperature sweep. If we set datafile_dim to 1, a subfolder will be created for each value of the temperature and the subfolders contain 1D datafiles for each gate voltage.
FIXME: link to example script.
Live plotting
Line plots
Let us add a simple line plot to our IV measurement:
my $datafile = sweep_datafile(columns => [qw/voltage current/]);
$datafile->add_plot(
x => 'voltage',
y => 'current',
);This will create a live line plot, which will be updated for each new data point. A copy of the plot will be saved in the output folder in png format with filename "$datafile.png". You can change this filename with the hard_copy option:
$datafile->add_plot(
x => 'voltage',
y => 'current',
hard_copy => 'data.png',
);Color maps (3D plots)
Let us add a color plot to the gate/bias 2D sweep:
my $datafile = sweep_datafile(columns => [qw/gate bias current/]);
$datafile->add_plot(
type => 'pm3d',
x => 'gate',
y => 'bias',
z => 'current'
);By default, the live plot will be updated after a bias sweep is completed.
Terminal options
If we don't want to use gnuplot's default terminal for the live plot or hard copy, we use the terminal, hard_copy_terminal, terminal_options and hard_copy_terminal_options options:
$datafile->add_plot(
type => 'pm3d',
x => 'gate',
y => 'bias',
z => 'current',
terminal => 'x11',
terminal_options => {linewidth => 3},
hard_copy => 'data.jpg',
hard_copy_terminal => 'jpeg',
hard_copy_terminal_options => {linewidth => 0.5}
); Plot and curve options
PDL::Graphics::Gnuplot separates between plot options and curve options:
$datafile->add_plot(
type => 'pm3d',
x => 'gate',
y => 'bias',
z => 'current',
plot_options => {
title => 'x - y plot',
xlabel => 'x (V)',
ylabel => 'y (V)',
cblabel => 'current (A)', # label for color box
format => {x => "'%.2e'", y => "'%.2e'"},
grid => 0, # disable grid
},
curve_options => {
with => 'lines', # default is 'points'
linetype => 2, # color
linewidth => 2,
},
); More Plot and curve options are documented in PDL::Graphics::Gnuplot.
Block data
There are types of instruments which return more than a single data. Examples are spectrum and network analyzers, which perform a frequency sweep and return an array of data after each sweep.
The sparam_sweep method provided, e.g., by the Lab::Moose::Instrument::RS_ZVA returns a 2D PDL with the following format:
[
[freq1 , freq2 , ..., freqN ],
[Re(S11)_1, Re(S11)_2, ..., Re(S11)_N],
[Im(S11)_1, Im(S11)_2, ..., Im(S11)_N],
[Amp_1 , Amp_2 , ..., Amp_N ],
[phase_1 , phase_2 , ..., phase_N ],
]The following script sweeps a voltage source and performs a frequency sweep with the VNA for each level of the voltage source. Each VNA sweep is logged into a separate datafile which contains one line of data for each frequency point.
use Lab::Moose;
my $source = instrument(
type => 'YokogawaGS200',
connection_type => 'USB',
# Safety limits:
max_units => 10, min_units => -10,
max_units_per_step => 0.1, max_units_per_second => 1
);
my $vna = instrument(
type => 'RS_ZVA',
connection_type => 'VXI11',
connection_options => {host => '192.168.x.x'},
);
my $sweep = sweep(
type => 'Step::Voltage',
instrument => $source,
from => -5, to => 5, step => 0.01
);
my $datafile = sweep_datafile(
columns => [qw/voltage freq Re_S21 Im_S21 amplitude phase/]);
my $meas = sub {
my $sweep = shift;
my $voltage = $source->cached_level();
my $block = $vna->sparam_sweep(timeout => 10, average => 100);
$sweep->log_block(
prefix => {voltage => $voltage},
block => $block
);
};
$sweep->start(
measurement => $meas,
datafile => $datafile,
datafile_dim => 1, # each VNA trace in a separate file
point_dim => 1, # the measurement sub logs blocks, not points
);Without the point_dim => 1 setting, only one datafile would be generated. One could also log all blocks into a single 2D datafile by setting datafile_dim => 2.
Continuous sweeps
With continuous sweeps, the sweep parameter is ramped in the background while data is recorded. This is in constrast with step/list sweeps where the sweep parameter is kept constant during data acquisition. The rate of measurement points taken is controlled by the interval sweep attribute.
For example, the following time sweep records data every 0.5 seconds and finishes after 60 seconds:
use Lab::Moose;
my $sweep = sweep(
type => 'Continuous::Time',
interval => 0.5,
duration => 60
);Configuration of continuous sweeps
In this example we sweep a magnet field with the Continuous::Magnet sweep class. All subclasses of Continuous work like this.
Note that the rate is given in Tesla/min.
my $sweep = sweep(
type => 'Continuous::Magnet',
instrument => $ips,
from => -1, # Tesla
to => 1,
rate => 0.1, # (Tesla/min, always positive)
start_rate => 1, # (optional, rate to approach start point)
interval => 0.5, # one measurement every 0.5 seconds
);If the sweep should use different rates in different sections, use the points, rates, and intervals arguments:
my $sweep = sweep(
type => 'Continuous::Magnet',
instrument => $ips,
points => [-1, -0.1, 0.1, 1],
# start rate: 1
# use slow rate 0.01 between points -0.1 and 0.1
rates => [1, 0.1, 0.01, 0.1],
intervals => [0.5], # one measurement every 0.5 seconds
);If the rates array contains fewer elements than the points array, it will be filled with the last value.
If no interval or intervals parameter is provided a default of 0 is used. With an interval of 0, as many data points as possible are recorded without any delay between the measurement points.
Further sweep customizations
The delay_before_loop, delay_in_loop, and delay_after_loop attributes
These attributes can be used to introduce delays into a sweep:
my $sweep = sweep(
type => 'Step::Voltage',
instrument => $source,
from => -5, to => 5, step => 0.01,
delay_before_loop => 1.5,
delay_in_loop => 0.1,
delay_after_loop => 2.5,
);With delay_before_loop set, the sweep will sleep 1.5 seconds before starting the sweep (after going to the start point of the sweep). With delay_in_loop set, there is a sleep between going to the setpoint and calling the measurement subroutine. The delay_after_loop causes a delay between finishing the sweep and going back to the start point.
The before_loop coderef
The before_loop coderef is used to execute arbitrary code at the start of a sweep:
my $before_loop = sub {
print("will start loop now\n");
};
my $sweep = sweep(
type => 'Step::Voltage',
instrument => $source,
from => -5, to => 5, step => 0.01,
before_loop => $before_loop,
);The $before_loop code is called after a possible delay_before_loop delay.
Writing new instrument drivers
Detailed instructions for writing new instrument drivers are provided in Lab::Moose::Developer.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2018 by the Lab::Measurement team; in detail:
Copyright 2006 Daniel Schroeer
2010 Daniel Schroeer
2011-2012 Andreas K. Huettel
2016 Andreas K. Huettel, Simon Reinhardt
2017 Andreas K. Huettel
2018 Simon ReinhardtThis is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.