Sample Environment at SINQ under NICOS

SEA is getting outdated sooner or later, and is based on SICS, that is why the transition from SICS to NICOS is a good trigger to go also for a new sample environment framework Frappy. Frappy is a Python Framework developed by Enrico Faulhaber (MLZ) and Markus Zolliker (PSI), for creating servers to access mobile equipment like sample environment, using SECoP as communication protocol towards the experiment control software.

For a transition period SEA is still used for all devices not yet migrated to Frappy. Today (spring 2022) still most of the sample environment devices at SINQ are controlled by SEA.

Instruments using NICOS and Sample Environment

Currently (April 2022), the following instruments running NICOS are supported to access sample environment:

• HRPT, ZEBRA, TASP, EIGER, CAMEA, FOCUS, SANS-I, AMOR

Some of the features described here might not yet be up to date on your instrument, please contact Markus Zolliker, if you want to use sample environment with NICOS, and things are not working as expected.

Accessing Sample Environment at SINQ from NICOS

By default a setup 'frappy' is loaded providing the following commands:

frappy_main('<main cfg>')                # change main SE configuration (e.g. cryostat)
frappy_stick('<stick cfg>')              # change sample-stick configuration
frappy_stick('')                         # remove stick
frappy_main('')                          # remove main SE apparatus
frappy_main()                            # show the current SE configuration
frappy_addons(...)                       # similar to above, for additional equipment not covered by main/stick
frappy_list()                            # list available configurations

Frequently Asked Questions

Are values of sample environment devices automatically stored in the data file?

When the SE configuration is changed, automatically the following aliases are created, if the corresponding object is available:

• T: the moveable main temperature, change before a scan: maw(T, 295), use in a scan: scan(T, ...)
• Ts: the sample temperature, potentially readonly
• Tr: the regulation temperature (e.g. VTI), readonly
• B: the magnetic field, moveable

The aliases above (except T) are automatically put into the envrionment list, and should be saved in the data file. Typically, either T and Tr or T and Ts point to the same real device.

You might add additional devices to be stored with the AddEnvironment command.

There is nothing displayed on the SEA client, what is going wrong here?

It might be that the SEA server is not yet running. On the instruments mentioned above, the SEA server is no longer controlled by monit. Controlling the SEA and Frappy servers:

sea start         # start the SEA and graph servers
sea restart       # restart above
sea list          # show running SEA and Frappy servers
sea help          # list available sea subcommands

The sample environment device I want to use is not available

Please use the command frappy_list() in NICOS to see a list of available configurations. Creating the configuration files for Frappy is still under work. The devices to be used on above mentioned instruments according to the schedule are created first. Please contact Markus Zolliker, if you want to use a device not yet on the list.