photon-counting

Photon counting with an SR400 Photon Counter.

How to run the code:

1. Open Anaconda Navigator
2. Launch Spyder
3. Click on the "open file" button
4. Head to the Photon-Counting folder
5. The Code controlls the Photon Counter is: Photon_Counter_GPIB.py
6. Before doing anything, MAKE SURE YOU TURN ON THE APD, CONNECT IT TO THE SR400, AND TURN ON THE SR400! a failure to do so will cause the code or the SR400 to bug out
7. Run the code by pressing the big green Play button at the top of the screen. An additional spyder window should pop up. Click on it to open the control panel.
8. If that worked, you can skip this step. In case of a computer error that prevents an additional spyder window from popping up, check for USB connections. The SR400 needs to be connected to the computer via GPIB. We have a GPIB-USB cable that should be connected to a USB port of the computer. The Arduino needs to be connected to the computer via USB. The Arduino controls the commercial valves. (You can check the Device Manager to ensure that NI GPIB Interfaces: NI GPIB-USB-HS and Ports: Arduino Uno (COM6) are both connected.)
9. You can set the time interval, or period, by editing the number on the white box to the left, and you can set the threshold rate the same way on the box to the right.
10. Any rate detected above the threshold will cause the program to tell the Arduino connected via the serial port to actuate the valve, as long as the DC power supply is set to 24 volts.
11. The start button starts the program to start measuring rates, and the stop button stops the program.
12. Unchecking the "scale" checkbox scrolls thegraph window, clearing old data off the graph. This does not experience lag. (lag mainly affects stoping measuring and starting a new measurement, and is due to the rvtgraph application being not an ideal application)
13. Checking the "scale" checkboxscales the window to fit all the data. This becomes laggy when dealing with large quantities of data, but is good to see slow phenomena such as photo-bleaching.
14. If you want to save your data, make sure you click on the little save checkbox.
15. To access your saved data, go to Documents, SavedData. You will see your last data set in a folder with the date and time you its recording. You can always change the folder’s name after you close out of Spyder.

How to edit the code:

See the wiki for more info.

Note: SR400_GUI.ui is not up to date; we are making edits directly in SR400_GUI.py.