QuantumBOX SDK for Python

Name: Quantumbox SDK
Author: Nuclear Instruments

Python control of the Nuclear Instruments QuantumBOX (NIDAQ121): everything the QUANTA application does, from your own scripts.

Settings: global, per-channel and common trigger configuration, input routing, validation, operating mode (photon counting / photon timing), GUI settings files
Oscilloscopes: trigger scope and one scope per channel, analog and digital traces
Calibration: hardware energy spectra, zero peak, multi-peak fit, PE thresholds
Photon counting (List_0): 8-channel energies per trigger, PE classification, mean / variance / Fano / g²(0), channel-pair correlations (g₁₁, NRF, γ)
Photon timing (List_1): per-channel timestamps (leading edge or CFD, ~2 ps), inter-arrival and channel-difference histograms
HW counters and coincidence units
Data saving in the same formats as QUANTA (bin, csv, txt, npy), and loaders for files written by QUANTA

Requirements

Python 3.8 or later, with numpy
The SciSDK native library installed on the PC (SciSDK setup on Windows, scisdk package on Linux). The scisdk Python wrapper is installed automatically with this package.
A QuantumBOX reachable over Ethernet (default 192.168.102.199, port 8888)

Installation

pip install quantumbox-sdk

The default firmware register map (daq1x1.json) is included: you do not need to pass a register file unless your firmware uses a different one.

Quick start

from quantumbox import QuantumBox

with QuantumBox("192.168.102.199") as box:          # port 8888 by default
    print(box.operating_mode)                        # 'counting' or 'timing'

    cfg = box.get_global_config()
    cfg.trigger_type = "le"                          # common / le / cfd
    cfg.qdc_tq_long = 100                            # integration time (ns)
    box.set_global_config(cfg)

    box.update_channels(None, pol=0, qdc_gain_value=1.0)   # all channels

    with box.counting_list() as lst:                 # photon counting run
        events = lst.acquire(duration_s=5)
    print(len(events), "events, CH0 energies:", events["energy"][:5, 0])

Calibration and PE thresholds

from quantumbox import QuantumBox, SpectrumAnalysisConfig, analyze_spectrum, Thresholds
import time

with QuantumBox("192.168.102.199") as box:
    box.spectra.reset(); box.spectra.start()
    time.sleep(30)
    spectra = box.spectra.read()
    box.spectra.stop()

cfg = SpectrumAnalysisConfig(zero_roi_left=2500, zero_roi_right=3400, min_peak_distance=50,
                             peak_tail=True, fit_background=True)
thresholds = Thresholds()
for ch, counts in spectra.items():
    result = analyze_spectrum(counts, cfg)
    thresholds[ch] = result.threshold_entries()
thresholds.save("thresholds.json")

Photon statistics

from quantumbox import classify_pe, pe_histogram, pe_statistics, correlation

pe0 = classify_pe(events["energy"][:, 0], thresholds[0])
pe1 = classify_pe(events["energy"][:, 1], thresholds[1])
print(pe_statistics(pe_histogram(pe0)))     # mean, variance, fano, g2
print(correlation(pe0, pe1))                 # g11, nrf, gamma, unbalance, coincidences

Photon timing

from quantumbox import interarrival_histogram, difference_histogram

with QuantumBox("192.168.102.199") as box:
    box.set_operating_mode("timing")
    with box.timing_list() as lst:               # CFD/LE encoding read from the board
        ev = lst.acquire(duration_s=10)

counts, edges = difference_histogram(ev["time_ns"], ev["channel"], 0, 1, range_ns=20, bins=2000, signed=True)

Examples

The examples/ folder of the source distribution contains complete scripts: connection and settings, oscilloscope capture, calibration, photon counting and timing runs with data saving, HW counters and coincidences, offline analysis of saved files.

Documentation

Full user guide: see the QuantumBOX SDK User Guide (link in the package page).

License

MIT — © Nuclear Instruments

Quantumbox SDK

Control the Nuclear Instruments QuantumBOX (NIDAQ121) from Python on top of SciSDK: board and channel settings, oscilloscopes, calibration with multi-peak fit and PE thresholds, photon counting and timing runs, photon statistics, correlations, and data saving in QUANTA formats.