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Welcome to OpenSQUID

What is OpenSQUID?

OpenSQUID is a software packaged for the control of SQUID readout electronics, developed by BoydLabUNM. Our goal is to provide software that allows researchers easy integration with their own custom-written software. In addition, we are trying to provide certain features that are absent from the vendor supplied code, such as auto-tuning, automatic SQUID characterization, recordkeeping, software flux-counting and reset. These advanced features should allow users to focus on their primary research objective, leading to increased productivity.

What is it not?

OpenSQUID is completely unrelated to the WWW-proxy software Squid-Cache. We are dealing with Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices. If this term is unfamiliar to you, chances are the software is not going to be useful for you.

Status

After reverse engineering of the Star Cryoelectronics Serial Control Code (SCC) was completed, a first prototype was implemented using Labview. However, we found Labview too limited to achieve our goals of offering a sophisticated feature set with easy interoperability with user software. Therefore, we decided to reimplement the software in Python (2.7). An initial version of the code is available for download now. It supports operation one Star Cryoelectronics PCI-1000 with a mix of up to eight PFL-100s (modulation readout) and PFL-102s (two-stage array readout). This code is in routine use in our lab.
We are actively working on completing and testing advanced features described in our poster presented at Applied Superconductivity Conference 2012 in Portland, OR. Magnicon GmbH has kindly made available to us detailed documentation of the communications protocol used in their products. We expect to add support for the Magnicon XXL readout electronics soon. An updated version of the code will be released in the near future.
Please note that use of this code is entirely at your own risk! We will not accept any liability for damages of any kind resulting from the use of this software.

Downloads

Download the Python package from here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/opensquid/files/

Screenshots

2-stage auto-tuning (tab 2)

2-stage auto-tuning (tab 3)

Spectrum Analyzer

Main user interface

Auto Reset and Counting

2-stage auto-tuning (tab 1)

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[Documentation]

Contributing

We welcome contributions from all interested parties. All code is licensed under GPLv2 to keep the code open to the research community. For version control system we use git.
Checkout the code using:

git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/opensquid/code opensquid-code

Acknowledgements

The software was developed to to support multiple projects funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the US Department of Energy (NA-22), and the National Science Foundation.