LCG: GUI for LEED Device and CCD-camera Control

This project is a graphical user interface (GUI) designed to control a SPECS ErLEED digital controller and a CCD-camera from The Imaging Source.

The application allows users to manage settings of the camera and the ErLEED.

Thereby, the user is able to get camera and ErLEED device state, to capture images, change several camera properties (e.g. brightness, gain, and exposure time) and set the kinetic energy of the LEED electrons. The program includes the possibility to record I(V)-series.

This application is divided into three parts:

1. The main GUI, which is started running gui.py
2. The LEEDDevice class, which handles all the communication with the ErLEED device,
3. And the `CameraDevice class, which handles the camera.

The CameraDevice as well as the LEEDDevice class could be used independently in other projects.

Installation

Prerequisites

The code was written and tested using Python 3.10.12, however it should run on other Python 3.xx.xx as well.

Please make sure, that your installation contains all the following packages:

opencv-python>=4.8.1.78
Pillow>=9.0.1
numpy>=1.26.2
toml>=0.10.2

Program was tested using the given versions, probably will work with some older versions too.

Install requirements e.g. using:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Steps to install LCG

1. Clone this repository.
2. Install Python (if not already installed).
3. Install required Python libraries using pip install -r requirements.txt.
4. Inside the cloned folder, run python gui.py to start the application.

Usage

Launch the application by running gui.py.

The main window holds in the upper half on the left the livefeed of the choosen camera. On the right side of the upper half, the last saved image will be displayed.

Use the buttons to perform specific actions like setting energy levels, capturing images, and recording I(V)-image series. Status of the LEED device as wel as of the camera feed are displayed as well.

TODO: explain I(V) handling as well as calibration curve.

By pressing Òpen Settings, the settings window will appear, where you are able to manipulate camera settings as well as generate a gain calibration curve for I(V) image series. In addition, arbitrary commands to the ErLEED could be send here too.

Configuration

In the config.tomlfile, several configuration properties are available:

TODO: List properties and explain handling of config file

Contributing

Contributions to this project are welcome! Please fork the repository, make changes, and submit pull requests. Bug reports, feature requests, and feedback are appreciated.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Credits

Contributors: Julian Hochhaus