Instrumental-lib

Instrumental is a Python-based library for controlling lab hardware like cameras, DAQs, oscilloscopes, spectrometers, and more. It has high-level drivers for instruments from NI, Tektronix, Thorlabs, PCO, Photometrics, Burleigh, and others.

Note As of version 0.7, Instrumental has dropped support for Python 2 and now requires Python 3.7+

Instrumental’s goal is to make common tasks simple to perform, while still providing the flexibility to perform complex tasks with relative ease. It also makes it easy to mess around with instruments in the shell. For example, to list the available instruments and open one of them:

>>> from instrumental import instrument, list_instruments
>>> paramsets = list_instruments()
>>> paramsets
[<ParamSet[TSI_Camera] serial='05478' number=0>,
 <ParamSet[K10CR1] serial='55000247'>
 <ParamSet[NIDAQ] model='USB-6221 (BNC)' name='Dev1'>]
>>> daq = instrument(paramsets[2])
>>> daq
<instrumental.drivers.daq.ni.NIDAQ at 0xb61...>

If you’re going to be using an instrument repeatedly, save it for later:

>>> daq.save_instrument('myDAQ')

Then you can simply open it by name:

>>> daq = instrument('myDAQ')

Instrumental also bundles in some additional support code, including:

A server-client implementation for controlling instruments from remote machines
Plotting and curve fitting utilities
Utilities for acquiring and organizing data

Instrumental makes use of NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, and Pint, a Python units library. It optionally uses PyVISA/VISA and other drivers for interfacing with lab equipment.

For install information, documentation, examples, and more, see our page on ReadTheDocs.

If you would like to cite Instrumental, to give it more visibility to other researchers, you can cite the repository through Zenodo (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.2556398).

cameras-pco cameras-picam cameras-pixelfly cameras-tsi cameras-uc480 daq-ni funcgenerators-agilent funcgenerators-rigol funcgenerators-tektronix laserdiodecontrollers-ilx-lightwave lasers-femto-ferb lasers-santec lockins-sr844 lockins-sr850 motion-kinesis-ff motion-kinesis-isc motion-madcitylabs-nanodrive motion-smaract-scu motion-apt motion-ecc100 motion-filter-flipper motion-newmark motion-tdc-001 multimeters-hp powermeters-newport powermeters-thorlabs powermeters-thorlabs-tlpm powersupplies-gw-instek scopes-agilent scopes-tektronix spectrometers-agilent spectrometers-ando spectrometers-bristol spectrometers-hp spectrometers-thorlabs-ccs spectrumanalyzers-rohde-schwarz tempcontrollers-covesion tempcontrollers-hcphotonics vacuum-sentorr-mod wavemeters-burleigh

Metadata

Release files for Instrumental-lib 0.8

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Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for Instrumental-lib 0.8
File	Size	Uploaded
Instrumental-lib-0.8.tar.gz	311.8 kB	Jan 1, 2025	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for Instrumental-lib 0.8
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
Instrumental_lib-0.8-py3-none-any.whl 316.4 kB Jan 1, 2025	Python 3	none	any	Details

Total release size: 628.2 kB

Release files / Instrumental-lib-0.8.tar.gz

Download URL	Instrumental-lib-0.8.tar.gz
Size	311.8 kB
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SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`d288363873c895fa562b6c1178a9ab77ee9dd1f8c5d5490bd51c5d2571a2f15a`
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Publishing platform: GitHub Actions
Publishing repository: github.com/mabuchilab/Instrumental
Publishing commit: github.com/mabuchilab/Instrumental/tree/64272832594964a26ba05ee220a2b56042d04b62

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Publishing configuration: github.com/mabuchilab/Instrumental/blob/64272832594964a26ba05ee220a2b56042d04b62/.github/workflows/pypi.yml
Publishing logs: github.com/mabuchilab/Instrumental/actions/runs/12565783868/attempts/1

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Subject: instrumental_lib-0.8.tar.gz
SHA-256 checksum: d288363873c895fa562b6c1178a9ab77ee9dd1f8c5d5490bd51c5d2571a2f15a Verifying attestations

Release files / Instrumental_lib-0.8-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	Instrumental_lib-0.8-py3-none-any.whl
Size	316.4 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`a2420e7967e19c15fe1a3192806404ba917806319d78f829db4d283015c4ac62`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`b51c855f639a7111672ae94e44a560ffcc01e6c354bc47e1e399372d18e040a4`
Upload date	Jan 1, 2025
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	Yes
Uploaded via	`twine/6.0.1 CPython/3.12.8`

Provenance

Identity

Publishing platform: GitHub Actions
Publishing repository: github.com/mabuchilab/Instrumental
Publishing commit: github.com/mabuchilab/Instrumental/tree/64272832594964a26ba05ee220a2b56042d04b62

Workflow

Publishing configuration: github.com/mabuchilab/Instrumental/blob/64272832594964a26ba05ee220a2b56042d04b62/.github/workflows/pypi.yml
Publishing logs: github.com/mabuchilab/Instrumental/actions/runs/12565783868/attempts/1

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Subject: instrumental_lib-0.8-py3-none-any.whl
SHA-256 checksum: a2420e7967e19c15fe1a3192806404ba917806319d78f829db4d283015c4ac62 Verifying attestations