4.4. Thorlabs KCube Position Aligner

Summary:	ThorlabsKCubePA
Type:	DataIO
License:	licensed under LGPL
Platforms:	Windows
Devices:	Plugin to control a KCube Position Aligner control unit for PSD devices
Author:	M. Gronle, TRUMPF Laser- & Systemtechnik GmbH

4.4.1. Overview

ThorlabsKCubePA

4.4.2. Initialization

The following parameters are mandatory or optional for initializing an instance of this plugin:

serialNo: str, optional
Serial number of the device to be loaded, if empty, the first device that can be opened will be opened

default: “”

includeSumSignal: int, optional
If 1, a 3x1 dataObject with (dx, dy and sum signal) is returned via getVal / copyVal. Else (0, default), only the dx, dy signals are returned within a 2x1 dataObject.

Value range: [0, 1], Default: 0

4.4.3. Parameters

These parameters are available and can be used to configure the ThorlabsKCubePA instance. Many of them are directly initialized by the parameters of the constructor. During the runtime of an instance, the value of these parameters is obtained by the method getParam, writeable parameters can be changed using setParam.

deviceName: {str}, read-only: Description of the device
serialNumber: {str}: serial number of the device
name: {str}, read-only: ThorlabsKCubePA

4.4.4. Usage example

The following example continuously acquires the X/Y position differences of two PSDs, plots them in an endless monitor and logs the position in a csv log file:

import time
import gc

if "psd1" in globals():
    del psd1
    gc.collect()
if "psd2" in globals():
    del psd2
    gc.collect()

psd1 = dataIO("ThorlabsKCubePA", "69250785")
psd2 = dataIO("ThorlabsKCubePA", "69250726")

psd1.startDevice()
psd2.startDevice()

delay = 0.2 #seconds

#open plot
buffer = 1000 #length of plot
buf1 = dataObject() #temporary buffer for data retrieval
buf2 = dataObject()

data = dataObject.nans([4,buffer], 'float64')
data.setTag("title", "Position differences")
data.setTag("legendTitle0", "PSD1, dx")
data.setTag("legendTitle1", "PSD1, dy")
data.setTag("legendTitle2", "PSD2, dx")
data.setTag("legendTitle3", "PSD2, dy")

close('all')
[_,h] = plot1(data, properties = {"legendPosition":"Right"})

#open logfile
with open("log.csv", "wt") as fp:
    fp.write("timestamp;psd1_x;psd1_y;psd2_x;psd2_y\n")

    counter = 0
    try:
        while True:
            psd1.acquire()
            psd2.acquire()
            psd1.getVal(buf1)
            psd2.getVal(buf2)

            logtext = "%.5f;%.4f;%.4f;%.4f;%.4f\n" % (time.time(), buf1[0,0], buf1[1,0], buf2[0,0], buf2[1,0])
            fp.write(logtext)

            if counter % 50 == 0:
                fp.flush() #flush the file from time to time
            counter += 1

            #update plot
            data[:,0:buffer-1] = data[:,1:buffer]
            data[0:2,buffer-1] = buf1
            data[2:4,buffer-1] = buf2
            h["source"] = data
            time.sleep(delay)
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        print("quit the acquisition")

psd1.stopDevice()
psd2.stopDevice()
del psd1
del psd2

4.4.5. Compilation

To compile this plugin, install the Thorlabs KINESIS driver package in the same bit-version than itom (32/64bit). Then set the CMake variable THORLABS_KINESIS_DIRECTORY to the base directory of Kinesis (e.g. C:/Program Files/Thorlabs/Kinesis). The required libraries from Kinesis will automatically be copied to the lib folder of itom. Do not use Kinesis 1.14.9 or below for compiling this plugin.

Kinesis 1.14.10 requires the Microsoft C++ Redistributable 2012.

4.4.6. Changelog

itom setup 3.2.1: This plugin has been compiled with Thorlabs Kinesis 1.14.15; it requires the Microsoft C++ Redistributable 2012
itom setup 4.0.0: This plugin has been compiled with Thorlabs Kinesis 1.14.23;
itom setup 4.1.0: This plugin has been compiled with Thorlabs Kinesis 1.14.25.