Function Runner Mid-shot

[Justin He]

Hello everyone,

I noticed that the documentation states that the "Running functions mid-shot in software time is yet to be implemented." using the function runner device. I was wondering if this was still accurate, and if so, whether there is an alternative that would establish a similar function. 

Thanks in advance!

-Justin 

[Ian B. Spielman]

Justin,

I am sorry to say that such a feature is currently not supported. The reason is that the worker running the function runner needs to be aware of the experiment timing (including any waits). So the only times that are known for sure are the time before the sequence starts and the time after it ends.

In the current framework, the basic way this would be implemented would to create a software pseudoclock that sends “ticks” (zmq messages) to whatever software timed devices need updates. It also would need to be synced with the wait infrastructure, meaning the wait monitor device would also have to send signals to the software pseudoclock wherever a wait had ended.

An alternate way to do this is to make a device, say with a real raspberry pi, that either (1) sends zmq messages to the function runner worker every time it is triggered, or (2) if it is fast enough, just locally runs the function.

— Ian

Ian B. Spielman

Fellow, Joint Quantum Institute
National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland

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[Justin He]

Thank you for the speedy response. To clarify, is there a possibility of using the labscript function runner to execute a function, timed by the external psuedoclock then? I apologise for the insistence - any method of executing a function in the middle of a shot would be vastly helpful and important to me.

-Justin He.  

[Ian B. Spielman]

Justin,

I attempted to provide an outline for a path to solve this problem. Since Labscript is an open source project it would be AMAZING if you selected one of these options (or created a smarter one of your own), implemented it, and then contributed back to the project.

— Ian

Ian B. Spielman

Fellow, Joint Quantum Institute
National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland

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spie...@jqi.umd.edu

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https://umd.zoom.us/j/7984811536

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UMD:
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Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8424 USA

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NIST: Building 216, Room B131

> To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/labscriptsuite/347e35df-e74a-4d35-a373-673eff077262n%40googlegroups.com.