QCoDeS 0.45.0

[Jens Hedegaard Nielsen (jenshnielsen)]

QCoDeS 0.45.0 (2024-05-03)

Breaking Changes:

• The AMI drivers in qcodes.instrument_drivers.american_magnetics.AMI430 and their submodules has been deprecated. Use the AMIModel430 and
  AMIModel4303D drivers from qcodes.instrument_drivers.american_magnetics instead. (mark non visa AMI driver as deprecated. #5712)

• QCoDeS is now type checked to ensure that subclasses are implemented in a way consistent with the parent class.
  This has resulted in a number of changes to the API. The following is a list of the changes that have been made
  to the API to make subclasses match their parent class. These changes are not expected to break any existing code, since they are
  primarily in positional arguments or unused arguments.

  • The first argument to NumpyJSONEncoder.default has changed from obj to o to match the naming in the std library json.JSONEncoder.default.
  • Unused args idn_part and being_time to QDevQDac.connect_message have been changed to idn_param and begin_time respectively to match the parent class.
  • Unused arguments to stub methods DSOTraceParam.setpoints, DSOTraceParam.unit and FormattedSweep.setpoints have been changed to match the parent class.
  • Alazar DemodulationAcquisitionController.handle_buffer the first argument has been renamed from data to buffer to match the parent class. (Run pyright with standard checks #5721)

• The qcodes.tests module has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Please import mock instruments from
  qcodes.instrument_drivers.mock_instruments and DriverTestCase from qcodes.extensions instead. If you make use of
  any other part of the tests module please open an issue on GitHub. (Deprecate qcodes.tests module #5732)

• Fix spelling of the 2 incorrectly spelled classes
  qcodes.instrument_drivers.tektronix.TekronixDPOTrigger and
  qcodes.instrument_drivers.tektronix.TekronixDPOWaveform to
  qcodes.instrument_drivers.tektronix.TektronixDPOTrigger
  and qcodes.instrument_drivers.tektronix.TektronixDPOWaveform .
  The old names have been deprecated and will be removed in a future release. (Fix typos in two Tektronix channel classes #5932)

• QCoDeS no longer installs opencensus and opencensus-ext-azure are no longer installed by default and opencensus integration is deprecated.
  This means that the option qcodes.config.telemetry.enabled to True is deprecated. For the time being opencensus and opencensus-ext-azure
  can be installed by installing QCoDeS with the opencensus option e.g. pip install qcodes[opencensus]. We however, recommend that any use
  of this telemetry integration is replaced by the use of OpenTelemetry. QCoDeS will not include any telemetry integration but the codebase
  has been instrumented using OpenTelemetry spans and python log messages enabling any user to collect telemetry if they should so wish. (Deprecate opencensus integration #5991)

Improved:

• An issue where simulated instruments powered by pyvisa-sim could raise an error during the teardown has been resolved. (Silence warning that may happen during teardown of simulated instruments. #5737)
• Add support for integer indexing in parameter paths in Station Files,
  e.g channel[0].voltage or sigouts[0].enables[1].value. (Simple indexed attribute access in station files #5887)
• Station.get_component and Instrument.get_component has gained the ability to lookup a component
  on an instrument that is only added as a member of a chanellist/tuple and not added as an individual component. (get_component allow lookup from channeltuple/list #6009)

Improved Drivers:

• Improved Stahl BS Voltage Source driver:

  • accepts more floating-point formats in response from instrument
  • allows connection to serial instrument over TCP/IP connection (Stahl driver fixes and improvements #5888)

• The driver for Rohde&Schwarz SG100A has been extendend with parameters
  controlling the optional pulse modulation and trigger modules. (Rohde & Schwarz SGS100A Trigger and Pulse Modulator parameters #5889)

• The drivers for TektronixAWG5208, TektronixAWG70001A, TektronixAWG70001B, TektronixAWG70002A and TektronixAWG70002B
  have gained the parameter all_output_off to disable / enable all outputs as well as the method channel.clear_asset to clear all asserts on a channel. (Driver Improvement: Tektronix AWG7000A #5900)

• A number of new parameters are added to the Keysight N9030B Spectrum Analyzer to allow for Noise Spectral Density measurements.
  In particular we add various parameters for switching the detectors into the appropriate modes, as well as allowing for
  instrument parameters required for unit conversions to be saved in the snapshot.

  In addition, we use binary readout of the data and the ability to read data from the instrument buffer
  (without taking a new trace), and to read averaged data. (Extend the Keysight N9030B with new parameters to allow noise measurement #5963)

• Adds trace manipulation commands to the Keysight PNA driver. (Add trace manipulation commands to Keysight PNA driver #6035)

New:

• Add a do2d_retrace function (add function do2d_retrace #5780)

• Added a new QCoDeS driver for the Cryomagnetics Model 4G superconducting magnet power supply.

  The CryomagneticsModel4G driver provides an interface to control and communicate with the Cryomagnetics Model 4G
  superconducting magnet power supply using the VISA protocol. It allows setting and reading the magnetic field, ramp rate,
  and various other parameters of the instrument.

  Key features of the driver include:

  • Setting and reading the magnetic field in Tesla, considering the coil constant and current limits.

  • Controlling the ramp rate in Tesla per minute.

  • Checking the operating state of the magnet and handling quench conditions and power module failures.

  • Blocking and non-blocking ramping of the magnetic field.

  • Handling communication errors and retrying failed operations.

  The driver is located in qcodes/instrument_drivers/cryomagnetics/_cryomagnetics_4g.py.

  For more details and usage examples, please refer to the driver's documentation:
  https://microsoft.github.io/Qcodes/examples/driver_examples/Qcodes_example_with_cryomagnetics4g.html (CryomagneticsModel4G Power Supply Driver  #5968)

• Add methods to recursively search a chain of DelegateParameters and return either all the parameters in the chain or the 'root' parameter
  These methods may also be used with custom Parameters which link to other parameters via different attribute names

  Also add infer_channel and infer_instrument methods to find the InstrumentModule or Instrument of the root parameter (DelegateParameter infer methods to find root parameters, instruments, and channels #5998)

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This discussion was created from the release QCoDeS 0.45.0.