Connecting to PM100D by Thorlabs in Python

Instrument Card

The PM100D Handheld Optical Power and Energy Meter is designed to measure the optical power of laser light or other monochromatic or near monochromatic light sources and the energy of pulsed light sources.

Device Specification: here

Manufacturer card: THORLABS

Thorlabs, Inc. is an American privately held optical equipment company headquartered in Newton, New Jersey. The company was founded in 1989 by Alex Cable, who serves as its current president and CEO. As of 2018, Thorlabs has annual sales of approximately $500 million.

• Headquarters: USA
• Yearly Revenue (millions, USD): 550
• Vendor Website: here

Connect to the PM100D in Python

Read our guide for turning Python scripts into Flojoy nodes.

Flojoy

PROTOCOLS > SCPI

📄 IDN

Query a device's identity through the universal *IDN? SCPI command.

📄 MEASURE VOLTAGE

Query an instrument's measured output voltage, such as a DMM or power supply.

📄 SCPI WRITE

Write a SCPI command to a connected bench-top instrument and return the result.

Instrumental

Here’s a Python script that uses Instrumental to connect to a PM100D Power Meter:

from instrumental import instrument, list_instruments

# List all available instruments
print(list_instruments())

# Connect to the PM100D Power Meter
pm100d = instrument('Thorlabs PM100D')

# Get the current power reading
power = pm100d.power()
print(f"Current power reading: {power}")

# Set the input signal wavelength to 1550 nm
pm100d.wavelength = 1550

# Get the input signal wavelength
wavelength = pm100d.wavelength
print(f"Current wavelength setting: {wavelength}")

# Make a multi-sample power measurement
measurement = pm100d.measure(n_samples=10)
print(f"Average power: {measurement.nominal_value} ± {measurement.std_dev}")

# Close the connection to the PM100D Power Meter
pm100d.close()

This script first lists all available instruments using list_instruments() function. Then, it connects to the PM100D Power Meter using the instrument() function and assigns it to the pm100d variable.

The script then demonstrates various operations with the power meter. It retrieves the current power reading using the power() method, sets the input signal wavelength to 1550 nm using the wavelength attribute, and retrieves the current wavelength setting.

Finally, it makes a multi-sample power measurement using the measure() method and prints the average power and standard deviation.

The script ends by closing the connection to the power meter using the close() method.