How to setup a config with a PI motor_stage [for confocal microscopy]

[mario-b-amaro]

This might be a very simple question, but I can't seem to figure it out. I might be making some confusion, as well. Thank you in advance for the help!

I have a setup with a PI P-541.2 XY Piezo Stage and a PI P-721, which gives me control over the three axis. They are connected to three PI E-621 on a PI 501 modular controller. I have tested them using COM ports and it is all working fine, so then I decided to try them from Qudi.

It seems that there are already written modules for these devices (motor_stage_pi?), but I can't seem to figure out where or how they would appear in a config file. I tried to use the default.cfg as a reference, but the motor_dummy is not used there. Does someone have an example config file for some setup they've made using these devices (or similar)?

[NicolasStaudenmaier]

Hi @mario-b-amaro,

all modules should have an example config in their documentation. Check the description directly under the class MotorStagePI. To configure the hardware you have to write the configuration in your .cfg file under the "hardware" section. The example configuration for the PI motor stage is:

Example config for copy-paste:

    motorstage_pi:
        module.Class: 'motor.motor_stage_pi.MotorStagePI'
        options:
            com_port_pi_xyz: 'ASRL1::INSTR'
            pi_xyz_baud_rate: 9600
            pi_xyz_timeout: 1000
            pi_xyz_term_char: '\n'
            pi_first_axis_label: 'x'
            pi_second_axis_label: 'y'
            pi_third_axis_label: 'z'
            pi_first_axis_ID: '1'
            pi_second_axis_ID: '2'
            pi_third_axis_ID: '3'

            pi_first_min: -0.1 # in m
            pi_first_max: 0.1 # in m
            pi_second_min: -0.1 # in m
            pi_second_max: 0.1 # in m
            pi_third_min: -0.1 # in m
            pi_third_max: 0.1 # in m

            pi_first_axis_step: 1e-7 # in m
            pi_second_axis_step: 1e-7 # in m
            pi_third_axis_step: 1e-7 # in m

            vel_first_min: 1e-5 # in m/s
            vel_first_max: 5e-2 # in m/s
            vel_second_min: 1e-5 # in m/s
            vel_second_max: 5e-2 # in m/s
            vel_third_min: 1e-5 # in m/s
            vel_third_max: 5e-2 # in m/s

            vel_first_axis_step: 1e-5 # in m/s
            vel_second_axis_step: 1e-5 # in m/s
            vel_third_axis_step: 1e-5 # in m/s

[mario-b-amaro]

Thank you for the answer. Don't I have to connect it to any logic or gui module?

[timoML]

Please note that the PI P-541.2 XY is a Piezo scanner. The motor_stage_pi is a hardware file for stepper motors from PI fulfilling the qudi MotorInterface.
For Piezo scanners that should be operated in the scanning probe toolchain (aka "confocal"), we typically use the ScanningProbeInterface. In fact we're operating our PI Piezo scanners through analogue outputs generated from Nidaq cards that are fed to PI controllers. This way is implemented by the NiScanningProbeInterfuse.

[NicolasStaudenmaier]

Ah yes, it's true what Timo says. I have missed the fact that it is a piezo scanner.

For the rest, there is currently no toolchain that works with any motor. That means you can configure the hardware and use it via the qudi manager or a Jupyter scripts for example, but there is no logic and GUI that work in conjuntion with the motor.

[mario-b-amaro]

Thank you both for the help.
I see the NiScanningProbeInterfuse is developed and tested for cards of type NI USB 63XX, NI PCIe 63XX and NI PXIe 63XX. Here at the lab we plan on getting another DAQ card specifically for this purpose, so we might as well buy one that is compatible with Qudi's NiScanningProbeInterfuse implementation, as we are using Qudi to control the setup. Hence, I wanted to ask which of the cards are you currently mainly using. And/or which would you recommend from these that are compatible with the implementation.

[LukePiewalker]

It depends on what exactly you want to measure (Analog In, Digital In) and also how fast you need to measure.
The NI cards you mostly encounter in our Institute are of Type 6363, 6343 and 6323 (USB or PCIe). The main difference between these, to my knowledge, is the difference in the maximum possible sampling rate. The 6363 in addition also can have a different AO value range (+-5V and +-10V) while the others are fixed at +-10V.
Another important thing is, that they have multiple counters (4) which allows them to have multiple hardware timed tasks running in parallel, e.g. an NI Instreamer is collecting Signal, while a scan is running via the scanning_probe_toolchain.

[gemmell]

@mario-b-amaro it's relatively easy to create a new implementation of ScanningProbeInterface - it's just a matter of spending time understanding what Qudi wants and how you get it that.

We have our own custom rfsoc based control system and our implementation of the ScanningProbeInterface file is 450 lines, with 400 lines mostly the same as the original code, and maybe 50 lines of custom functions that adapt what it wants to how to get it from our system.