Super-auto-comb documentation

This is the documentation for Super-auto-comb.

Readme

Super-auto-comb is a python script for processing optical comb data useful for Time&Frequency science in the optical domain. Super-auto-combs outputs data in the ROCIT format, useful for comparison using optical fibre links, developed for the EMPIR project ROCIT and for the European Partnership on Metrology Project TOCK. See also:

Development is at

This package is not yet on Pypi.

Basic usage

Install using pipx directly from Github:

$ pipx install git+https://github.com/INRIM/super-auto-comb.git

Verify the installation and the available Command Line Interface (CLI) arguments with:

$ super-auto-comb --help

To simplify the inputs of CLI arguments, prepare a super-auto-comb.txt file in the folder where you want to process comb data similar to:

do = [my_do1, my_do2]
start = 2023-02-24
stop = 2023-04-29
dir = ./Outputs
fig-dir = ./Outputs/Figures
comb-dir = your-path-to-comb-data
setup-dir = your-path-to-comb-setup-files

and invoke $ super-auto-comb to process the data.

For repeating data processing day-after-day you can run $ super-auto-comb --auto to process the data. The appropriate start date will be read/saved in the file super-auto-last.txt for subsequent use.

Tracking comb setups

Super-auto-comb read files that describe designed oscillators (DO) and combs, and how these setups changed over time. For both DOs and combs information are stored line by line. Each line should start with a datetime in ISO format (e.g., 2021-10-28T16:20:21, local time is ok). It is intended that the data on the line applies from that date to the date on the next line (if any). Changes should be tracked by adding more lines. See the tests/samples folder for examples. If super-auto-comb is invoked by super-auto-comb --do my_do, it will look for a file my_do.dat. If this file has my_comb under the comb column, super-auto-comb will then look for a my_comb.dat file.

Comb files

The columns of these files should be:

Column name

Data type

Description

datetime

ISO

Datetime of the change

maser

string

Reference maser

frep

float

Repetition rate in Hz

f0

float

Offset frequency in Hz (with sign)

counter_f0

int

Counter channel counting f0

Designed oscillators files

DO files are more complex, and should contain all information required to transform from counted frequencies to absolute frequencies, supplemented by the details of the measurement on the counter (divided in counter1 and counter2 for double counting)

Column name

Data type

Description

datetime

ISO

Datetime of the change

comb

string

Comb used for the measurement comb1 or comb2

physical

string

Physical oscillator

nominal

string

Nominal frequency in Hz (should be a string in quotes, e.g. '518_295_836_590_863.6')

kscale

float

Frequency scaling (typically 1, 2 in case of SHG)

foffset

float

Offset frequency in Hz from the counted beatnote

N

int

comb tooth

fbeat_sign

int

sign of the physical beatnote

f0_scale

int

scaling of f0 (typically 1, 2 for measurements with visible branch)

counter1

int

Counter channel

flo1

float

Local oscillator frequency in Hz (with sign))

min1

float

Minimum acceptable counted frequency

max1

float

Maximum acceptable counted frequency

counter2

int

Counter channel

flo2

float

Local oscillator frequency in Hz (with sign))

min2

float

Minimum acceptable counted frequency

max2

float

Maximum acceptable counted frequency

The math is:

  • \(f_N = f_{rep} N + f_0 \times scale_{f_0}\)

  • \(f_{beat} = sign_{beat} \times |f_{counter} + f_{lo}|\)

  • \(f_{abs} = k_{scale} \times (f_N + f_{beat}) + f_{offset}\)

\(f_{abs}\) should be close to the nominal frequency. If DOs get disconnected, then a line with only the datetime of disconnection can be used.

Input files

Data input files are expected to be generated by a K+K counter with names such as 220321_1_Frequ.txt.

Acknowledgments

This work has received funding from the European Partnership on Metrology, co-financed by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme and by the Participating States, under grant number 22IEM01 TOCK.

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Authors

(c) 2023-2024 Marco Pizzocaro - Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRIM)