QCoDeS 0.32.0 (2022-01-24)

Breaking Changes:

  • The qcodes.version module deprecated and no longer imported by default e.g. if you want to use it you will need to explicitly import qcodes.version. It is recommended to use qcodes.__version__ as an alternative. (#3762)

  • IPython measurement magic (Special command staring with % for use in IPython) using the legacy loop is no longer enabled by default. To enable it set the corresponding config value (core.register_magic) in your qcodesrc.json config file to true. (#3764)

  • The import_legacy_api config option has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release. (#3781)

New:

  • An abstract instrument (An instrument with one or more abstract parameters) will now raise at instrument creation time preventing such an instrument from being created. This makes it easier to define interfaces that multiple instruments must implement. See here for examples of how to use this. (#3718)

  • Improve the Keithley 2600 SMU calibration routine and make it a standalone executable function (#3783)

  • Add ArraySweep sweep class for use with dond function for sweeping parameters on arbitrary arrays of values (#3847)

  • The instrument channel container ChannelList has been split into a immutable ChannelTuple and a mutable ChannelList. The ChannelList class has gained a to_channel_tuple method. The lock method which locks a ChannelList has been retained but we do expect to deprecate this in the future.

    All drivers in QCoDeS have been updated to either use a ChannelTuple or a unlocked ChannelList as it makes sense.

    Furthermore, the ChannelList class now implements the full collections.abc.MutableSequence interface behaving like a python list. (#3851)

Improved:

  • Only register an Instrument in the list of connected instruments if the connection was successful. This change allows connections to be retried with the same name if the first attempt fails. (#3696)

  • Fixed a bug with import_legacy_api config option which would trigger a circular import error. (#3781)

  • Instances of InstrumentModule (and therfor their subclass InstrumentChannel) are now accessible via the Instrument.instrument_modules dict on an instrument in addition to the Instrument.submodules dict which combines them with instances of ChannelList. (#3834)

  • ChannelList now implements the full collections.abc.Sequence interface.

    This also means that isinstance(mychannelist, Sequence) is True (#3835)

  • Inserting into a ChannelList now correctly keeps the internal mapping up to date ensuring that get_channel_by_name works correctly. (#3838)

  • InstrumentChannel now subclasses a new class InstrumentModule to clarify that instrument modules may serve other purposes than being channels. At the moment InstrumentModule and InstrumentChannel are identical. The type hints have been updated to clarify that only subclasses of InstrumentModule and ChannelLists are allowed submodules. (#3840)

  • Empty ChannelTuples/Lists now correctly raise an attribute error when trying to get a non existing attribute. Previously they would raise an IndexError. (#3856)

  • Add function argument for Monitor creation to allow grouping of parameters according to channels rather than instrument. Specifically, group according to parameter.instrument instead of parameter.root_insturment. Default behavior is the current behavior with sorting by root_instrument. (#3820)

Improved Drivers:

  • Changed the value mapping of channel_selection on the AlazarTech ATS9440 driver to fix all the combinations where channel D is involved. (#3802)

  • The VISA version of the AMI driver has been improved to more robustly handle flaky communication. (#3833)

  • Added a VISA version of the AMI430 driver. This is expected to be more robust with communication issues than the IP version of the driver. This driver exists alongside the IP version as qcodes.instrument_drivers.american_magnetics.AMI430_visa.py::AMI430. (#3842)