pyThorlabsPM100x

pyThorlabsPM100x is a Python library/GUI interface to control the Thorlabs consoles PM100A and PM100D. The package is composed of two parts, a low-level driver to perform basic operations, and high-level GUI, written with PyQt5, which can be easily embedded into other GUIs.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage as a stand-alone GUI interface
• Usage via the low-level driver
  • Examples

Installation

Use the package manager pip to install,

pip install pyThorlabsPM100x

This should automatically install all libraries needed by pyThorlabsPM100x. If any error occurs during installation, try installing first the required dependencies separately (one by one), via

pip install "PyQt5>=5.15.6"
pip install "pyqtgraph>=0.12.4"
pip install pyvisa
pip install numpy

and then run again pip install pyThorlabsPM100x

Important: in order to be accessible from this library, the console needs to be set to "NI-VISA driver" modality, and not to "TLPM modality". Typically, if you used recent Thorlabs software to acquire from a console, that will automatically set the console to "TLPM modality". You can use the utility Power Meter Driver Switcher to switch between modalities.

Usage as a stand-alone GUI interface

The installation should set up an entry point for the GUI. Just typing

pyThorlabsPM100x

in the command prompt will start the GUI.

Usage via the low-level driver

pyThorlabsPM100x provides also a low-level driver, based on the library pyvisa, to directly interface with the powermeter console.

from pyThorlabsPM100x.driver import ThorlabsPM100x
powermeter = ThorlabsPM100x()
available_devices = powermeter.list_devices()
print(available_devices)
powermeter.connect_device(device_addr = available_devices[0][0])
print(powermeter.power)
powermeter.disconnect_device()

The method list_devices() returns a list, with each element representing one available device in the format [address,identity,model]. The string address contains the physical address of the device. The line powermeter.connect_device(device_addr = available_devices[0][0]) establishes a connection to the first device found. We then print the power currently read by the console, and finally disconnect from it.

The class ThorlabsPM100x supports several properties and methods to communicate with the console and to read/change its settings. Some of the properties are read-only, while others can be set. A full list of properties and methods is available here below

Properties

Methods

Examples

from pyThorlabsPM100x.driver import ThorlabsPM100x
powermeter = ThorlabsPM100x()
available_devices = powermeter.list_devices() #Check which devices are available
print(available_devices)
powermeter.connect_device(device_addr = available_devices[0][0]) #Connect to the first available device
print(powermeter.power) #print the power currently read
print(powermeter.wavelength) #print the operating wavelength
(minWL,maxWL) = powermeter.read_min_max_wavelength() #read max and min available wavelengths
powermeter.wavelength = maxWL #set wavelength to the max
print(powermeter.power_range) #print current power range
powermeter.move_to_next_power_range(direction=+1) #increaase power range
print(powermeter.power_range) #print new power range
powermeter.disconnect_device() #disconnect the device