3.7. ThorlabsFF#

Summary:

ThorlabsFF

Type:

DataIO

License:

Licensed under LGPL.

Platforms:

Windows

Devices:

Filter Flipper (MFF101)

Author:

J. Krauter, ITO Universität Stuttgart

3.7.1. Overview#

ThorlabsFF is an plugin to control the Thorlabs Filter Flipper:

  • Filter Flipper (MFF101)

It requires the new Kinesis driver package from Thorlabs and implements the interface Thorlabs.MotionControl.IntegratedStepperMotors.

Please install the Kinesis driver package in advance with the same bit-version (32/64bit) than itom.

This plugin has been tested with the flipper MFF101.

ITOM Plugin to be used for interaction with the Thorlabs Filter Flippers Product Series.

3.7.2. 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: “”

3.7.3. Parameters#

These parameters are available and can be used to configure the ThorlabsFF 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

firmwareVersion: {int}, read-only

firmware version of the connected device

name: {str}, read-only

name of the plugin

pollingInterval: {int}, read-only

device polling interval in ms

position: {int}

position of the device (position1: 1, position2: 2)

serialNumber: {str}, read-only

serial number of the device

softwareVersion: {int}, read-only

software version of the connected device

transitTime: {int}

transit time of the device in ms

3.7.4. Installation#

Install the Thorlabs Kinesis software and USB Drivers.

3.7.5. Usage#

This example shows how to initialized the device in itom and change the position:

flipper = dataIO("ThorlabsFF") # get instance of plugin
flipper.setParam("transitTime", 300) # set the transit time to 300 ms
flipper.setParam("position", 1) # flip to position 1
flipper.setParam("position", 2) # flip to position 2

3.7.6. Compilation#

To compile this plugin, install the Thorlabs KINESIS from https://www.thorlabs.com/software_pages/ViewSoftwarePage.cfm?Code=Motion_Control&viewtab=0 driver package in the same bit-version than itom (32/64bit). It has been implemented using KINESIS version 1.14.32. Then set the CMake variable THORLABS_KINESIS_DIRECTORY or the environment variable THORLABS_KINESIS_ROOT 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 1.6.0 or below for compiling this plugin.

Kinesis 1.7.0 requires the Microsoft C++ Redistributable 2012. Changelog =========

  • 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.

  • itom setup 4.2.0: This plugin has been compiled with Thorlabs Kinesis 1.14.28.

  • itom setup 4.3.0: This plugin has been compiled with Thorlabs Kinesis 1.14.47.