eos/amor_manual.md

% User Manual for the Neutron Reflectometer Amor % Jochen Stahn % 2024-06-06

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Users' guide to NICOS

open NICOS

• normal users should be logged on as amorlnsg on the instrument control computer amor.psi.ch. That is the one under the desk in the control cabin.

  computer: amor.psi.ch
  username: amorlnsg
  password: ask beamline scientist

• create a local subdirectory for the actual campagne:

  1. Open a terminal and enter your name. Probably create a new directory with your name. You will end up in this directory.
  2. Create a sub-directory: mkdir <year>-<month> (or the like).
  3. cd <year>-<month>

• open the NICOS gui by typing

  nicos-gui

  in a terminal window as user amorlnsg. The gui will start up. Probably you will have to connect to the NICOS program:

  in the upper right corner type the wheel and select connect
  user: user
  password: ask beamline scientist

identify yourself

Upon starting a measurement campagne, you have to enter the following information:

• proposal ID
• title
• user name(s)
• affiliation?

The information is used to create a repository for your data and is also stored in the meta data section of all your files.

brief intro for NICOS commands

check and change device parameters

• everything is a device

• each device has a name, in most cases a 2 to 3 letter abbreviation
  e.g. som for the sample tilt (sample omega)

• get the description for a device:

  <device>

• get the present value (position, angle, ...):

  <device>()

• get all the paramters (position, unit, limits, ...):

  ???

• move to a new value (and wait until the command is executed):

  maw(<device>, <value> [, <device2>, <value2> ...])

All these actions are also realised in the gui: klick on the device name in the right pannel. A pop-up window opens with all the options available.

counting and scanning

batch file creation and execution

define set-up

...

devices

read(<device>)

reads the value of a device

maw(<device>, <value> [, <device2>, <value2> ...])

(move and wait) moves a device to value

left over and does not belong here

The sample must be positioned with the center of its surface at the focal point. At the same time it should be in the center of rotation of the \omega stage. For this reason there are 2 vertical translations which are close to parallel:

soz

= Sample Omega stage Z position

Lift of the \omega stage so that its center is in the FP.

stz

= Sample Translation Z direction

Lift of the sample on the \omega stage to bring it to the center of rotation.

This stage is not available at the moment!

And finally the sample has to be tilted by using the \omega and \chi stages.

mu

Tilt of the sample relative to the horizon.

On amor \mu is used to define and probably to describe the sample orientation relative to the lab horizon. Since the beam might be convergent on the sample surface it is not the neutron's angle of incidence! See also [coordinate system(s) and nomenclature].

nu

Rotation of the detector center around the sample position relative to the lab horizon. This is a combined movement of detector lift, tilt, (x translation) and also affects all other devices behind the sample.

Diaphragms

d<n><m>

= diaphragm number n, blade or position m

n \in \{\mathrm v, 1..4\} for $v$irtual source and number of diaphragm.

m \in \{\mathrm{t, b, l, r, h, v, z}\} for top, bottem, left, right, horizontal, vertical and z-position.

not all options rea available for all devices.

name	description	m	range or values / mm
dvv	virtual source vertical		0.5 1 2 3 4 6 8 10
dvh	virtual source horizontal		2 5 10 12 15 20 25 30
dmf	middle focus		slot 1 .. 5
d1<m>	behind Selene guide	t b l r	-40 .. +40
d2<m>	before sample	t b l r	-40 .. +40
d2Z	'' lift		-100 .. +100
d3<m>	behind sample	t b l r	-40 .. +40
d3Z	'' lift		-100 .. +100
d4<m>	before detector	h v	+1 .. +140

perform measurement

The q_z range of one measurement is defined by the wavelength range \lambda \in [3.5, 12.5] \AA\ and the spread of the angles of incidence \alpha_i. For specular reflecivity, \alpha_i is deduced from the position (i.e. angle) of the detector and the position on the detector where a neutron is detected.

count(<mode>=<preset>)

count with mode

• t = time for preset seconds
• m = monitor for preset monitor counts

scan(<device>, <start>, <step>, <np>, <mode>=<preset>)

scan the device from start with np steps of width step with the counting time defined by mode / preset

run(<scriptname>)

run the script scriptname, who's path is either relative to Exp.scriptpath or which has an absolute path. The script language is python.

How to perform a measurement

It is assumed here that NICOS is running, the basic data are provided and the general set-up is realised.

identify sample

Enter a name and a description of the sample. This information will end up in the meta data section.

NewSample(<sample name>)

It is also advised to give a short sample description in orso model format:

Sample.orsomodel='<model>'

e.g.

Sample.orsomodel='air | 20 ( Ni 5 | Ti 7 ) | SiO2'

align sample

There are 2 sets of (virtual) devices: the ones for aligning the smaple and the ones to select a certain q range or instrument set-up. The sample alinment devices are:

mud

for pitch correction:

To compensate the misalignment of the sample surface with respect to the

sample table surface along the beam.

sch

for roll correction:

To compensate the misalignment of the sample surface with respect to the

sample table surface normal the beam.

sz

for height adjustment:

To bring the sample surface to the center of rotation = focal point

of the neutron beam.

It is not necessary - nor is it allowed - to rerdefine any device's zero position!

height alignment

In case the sample surface or a mark outside the sample enviromnet indicating its position are visible, one can use the surveyor's optical level mounted outside the Amor area at the wall next to the experimental cabin. This ensures that the sample is in the beam with a vertical offset of a few tenths of a mm.

If possible, an absorber at a defined distance above (or below) the sample surface can be used: Scanning the sample though the direct beam allows for detecting this absorber and moving to the right position.

Using the full divergence and a large virtual source allows for pitch-misalignments of up to 1^\circ and height-offsets of 5 mm to still generate a signal on the detector for a reflected beam. A good choice for mu for searching some signal in this case is 0.8^\circ.

pitch

If one of the schemes 'simple' or '???' is used, the detector is positioned in a way that the refelcted beam footprint is centered. This means that the lower edge of the footprint - which is much easire to detect then the upper edge - is half the divergence below the detector center. The center is at channel number z = 224.

If the full divergenc of 1.5^\circ is used, the lower footprint boundary is at channel number z = 384.

roll

Once height and pitch are (roughly) aligned, the roll can be corrected by looking at the I(y, \theta) detector image of the reflected beam. The lower boundary of the footprint should be exactly horizontal.

The roll is independent of pitch and height. An iterative alignment process is thus not necessary.

An accuracy of about 0.1^\circ is sufficient.

fine alignment

The beam cross section at the focal plane is mimimum for the settings

div = 0.05^\circ
kad = 0.70^\circ
dmf = 1

I.e. height and pitch alignment with these settings at a moderate q should give the best results. The iterative procedure is similar to 'conventional' reflectometers:

• scan of sz to find the height maximum
• adjust mud so that the beam footprint if centered at detector channel z = 224

measurement: ranges, angles and duration

reduce data

The raw data at amor are stored in the nexus hdf format. Besides some meta data bout the experiment and the set-up, it contains the measurement data in form of an event. I.e. each neutron has one entry with the time and location (better: voxel-ID) of detection.

There is the python program code eos to reduce the event stream to something like a Intensity vs. wavelength and angle map. This process includes a variety of corrections (instrument geometry, chopper properties, filtering in wavelength and footprint size, gravity, etc. If available, a reference measurement (characterising the incident beam, the detector efficiency and absorption of the sample environment) can be used to create a R(\lambda, \theta) map for specular reflectometry, .... and finally an R(q_z) curve.

The output format follows the orso rules.

location of the raw data files:

If not specified differently, *eos looks for the raw data files in the following directories:

./, ./raw/, ../raw, ../../raw, /home/amor/data/<year>/<proposalname>

The present approach is to create a subdirectory for the present experiment

/home/amorlnsg/<user>/<date_description>

and in there a link to the raw files (if it does not already exist)

cd /home/amor/data/<year>/<proposalname>
ln -s /home/amor/data/<year>/<proposalname> raw

activate the virtual environment for eos

in the terminal in which the data reduction is to be performed type:

source ~/eos/venv/bin/activate.csh

run eos

eos is a command line script. This means that all necessary information is provided as arguments after the program call on the same line. At least a file (measurement) number and the name of the output file have to be provided. This then looks like

python ~/eos/eos.py -f <number> -o <name>

All 'missing' information is guessed or collected by eos, where most default values are extracted form the raw data file (e.g. beam divergence, instrument settings, sample and detector angles). Almost all relevant values can be overwritten by an command line option - in most cases this is not recommended!

Useful arguments for data reduction are:

data file(s):

-f <value>

number(s) of the raw data files

the general format is

<number0>-<number1>:<increment0>[,<number2>-<number3>:<increment2>..]

!!!

-n <value>

number of the reference file for normalisation

-Y

year of the data collection (in order to create the correct raw file name.

The default is the actual year.

filtering / region of interest:

-l <low> <high>

wavelength range in angstroms

-t <low> <high>

theta range

-y <low> <high>

horizontal pixel range on the detector

-q <low> <high>

q_z range

correct angle:

-m

offset to the mu stored in the data file

-mu

overwrite the data file entry

scaling:

-S <low> <high>

scale the (weighted) average in the given q_z range to 1

-s <value>

multiply reflectivity by value; executed after -S

formats:

-of Rqz | Rlt | ort | orb

Defines what is written to the file:

Rqz: R(q_z),

Rlt: R(\lambda, \theta) and much more

and in which format:

ort: ASCII file

orb: nexus conform binary file

-h

get help on eos and a description of all arguments.

Instrument description

Amor is a neutron reflectometer with a beam focused to the sample position.

Parameters and options

• wavelength range

• angular range

• q range

• polarisation efficiency

• angle of incidence on liquid surfaces

• sample environment

  • 1 T electomagnet (with closed cycle refrigerator)
  • 7 T cryomagnet, horizontal field direction
  • furnaces
  • LB trough
  • sheer cell
  • potentiostate / galvanostate

From physical source to virtual source

The real neutron source is the spallation target at SINQ. The fast neutrons created there by proton capture in lead nuclei are moderated to room temperature using D2O, and further down to cold neutrons by a liquid H2 moderator. This is often referred to as cold source.

Some of these cold neutrons are guided by a 4.5 m long converging neutron guide (with m = 2.5 coating) to the virtual source (VS) position, just outside the shileding monilith at 6 m from the surface of the cold moderator.

virtual source

_

2 Boron-Aluminium wheels with horizontal and vertical slits of various sizes, respectively. The opening (luminous field diaphragm) is centered at the guide focal point.

Table: Vertical and horizontal slit widths of the virtual source diaphragm.

opening	vertical	horizontal
	/ mm	/ mm
1	0.5	2.0
2	1.0	5.0
3	2.0	10.0
4	3.0	12.0
5	4.0	15.0
6	6.0	20.0
7	8.0	25.0
8	10.0	30.0

Selene guide

The divergent neutron beam emerging from the virtual source slits is collected and focussed to a point (the mdiddle focus, MF) some 15 m away from the VS by a set of two elliptically bent mirrors (i.e. a Montel optics), where one reflects horizontally towards the Aare, and the other vertically upwards.

The image of the VS at the MF is distorted due to come aberatin. To correct for this to first order, a second Montel optics follows which reflects towards Berg and downwards. This results in an image of the VS at the final focal point, some 30 m behind the VS. This image is distorted spatialy due to imperfections of the Montel optics (surface and alignement) and it is inhomogeneous in intensity due to an only partially corrected divergence distribution and due to losses during reflection.

This arrangement of two Montel optics we called Selene guide.

The Selene guide is made up of about 500 mm long L-shaped elemets. These are individually tiltable in vertical direction (pitch movement). 6 of these elements are bundeled on a support beam which rests on two vertically movable sockets. 3 beams form one Montel optics. All these movements are highly delicat because they might lead to collissions and thus demage at places that are not accessable for years - if ever again. Thus no user is allowd to run these.

The housings of each Montel optics plus the ones of some beam shaping elements and of one chopper disk each form a continuous vacuum vessel.

The Montel optics are each some 9 m long and located symmetrically between the adjunct focal points. This means there are gaps between VS and guide entry and the guide exit to FP of 3 m, and of 6 m between the Montel optics. These gaps are used for conditioning the neutron beam.

characteristic measures

• a = 7'421\,\mathrm{mm}
• b = 129.50\,\mathrm{mm}
• c = \sqrt{a^2 - b^2} = 7'420\,\mathrm{mm}
• 4c = 29'680\,\mathrm{mm}
• $\Delta \alpha = \arctan \frac{b}{a} \sqrt{\frac{1+\xi}{1-\xi}} - \arctan \frac{b}{a} \sqrt{\frac{1-\xi}{1+\xi}}$
  \approx\, 1.5\, b/a \,\approx\, 1.5^\circ for \xi = 0.6

Optics in the bunker

The gap between VS and Montel optics is bridged by an evacuated flight tube.

The large central gap hoists:

polariser / frame overlap filter

\hfill MF - 2700

The polariser consists of Fe/Si supermirror coated Si blades which are bent in the shape of a logarithmic spiral with the MF as the spiral pole. To enhance the polarisation efficiency, 2 of these sheets are mounted with a distance of a few cm. The total arrangement is some 2.1 m long.

The frame overlap filter (FOF) has a similar design, but only one sheet, coated on the outside (towards the source) with Ni.

Both are monted one baove the other and switching means a vertical translation of the assembly.

first chopper disk

(master) \hfill MF - 500

The chopper disk has 2 openings of 13.5^o^, each, and rotates with a speed of 1000 rpm creating pulses ever 33.33 s.

The beam shaping properties are discussed below in context with the second chopper disk.

main shutter

\hfill MF - 300

beam monitor

\hfill MF - 250

The monitor is a fission chamber with sensitivity 10^-?^.

neutron camera

\hfill MF

For alignment purposes. By default not in the beam.

middle focus aperture

\hfill MF

Wheel with 5 freely configurable slots. Presently unused.

second chopper disk

(slave) \hfill MF + 500

Geometrically identical to the first chopper disk, but rotating in the opposite sense with a phase offset of -13.5^o^. This way they form a blind double chopper with a resolution \Delta t/t = \Delta \lambda/\lambda = constant. [@vanWell] The center of this set-up, i.e. MF, is the virtual origin in time and space for the time-of-flight encoding of wavelength \lambda.

RF spin flipper

_

and some shielding elements and flight tubes.

These optical elements produce a neutron beam which

• is convergent to the FP
• is restricted to a wavelength range of 3 to 9.5 Aa
• might be polarised with selectable polarisation
• has a time focus 15 m before the FP (i.e. the pulse they belong to was virtually created 15 m upstream for all divergences due to the equal trajectory lengths in an ellipse).

Optical bench

Behind the exit of the second Montel optics the following components are / will be / might be installed:

instrument shutter

_

laser system for sample alignment

(to come)

diaphragm D1

(to come)

for defining vertical and horizontal divergences and for changeing the angle of incidence for a reduced beam within the full divergence of 1.5 deg.

individual movement of \pm40 mm of all 4 blades relative to center

deflector

(to come, optional)

to redirect a restricted beam downwards to liquid surfaces

diaphragm D2

(to come)

to reduce background

individual movement of \pm40 mm of all 4 blades relative to center

sample table

_

diaphragm D3

(to come)

to reduce background

individual movement of \pm40 mm of all 4 blades relative to center

analyser spin flipper

(future option)

analyser

(future option)

diaphragm D4

(to come)

vertical / horizontal slit with 1 to 160 mm opening, centered

detector

_

the active region starts 4'000 mm behind the FP and 18'842 mm behind the MF in standard position

The detector was designed and built by the ESS detector group. It is a prototype for the detector for Estia@ESS with a reduced active area of 140 \times 160 mm^2^. The full beam footprint is 110 \times 120 mm^2^.

In addition there might be flight tubes and shileding.

Infrastructure

Areas

Media

EDV

Amor network

By default all LAN sockets in the experimental areas (below the granite beam and against the bunker wall on the upper area) and all LAN sockets in the cabin below the desk are connected to the Amor network.

In this network there are also the instrument controll computer and computers for the detector, the chopper, ....

PSI network

By default the 2 LAN sockets in the corner opposite the the doors in the cabin are connected to the PSI web.

!!! WLAN: EDUROM, CORP

PSYS

Experiments

coordinate system(s) and nomenclature

The lab coordinate system is ...

z

vertical direction

x

horizontal, parallel to the projection of the beam center at the sample position on the horizontal plane

roghly pointing from Böttstein towards Villigen

y

horizontal, forming a right-handed system with x and z

roughly pointing from Berg towards Aare

The special situation with an incoming beam on the sample with potentially a divergence of up to 1.5^o^ requires a differentiation between sample tilt (\omega) and angle of incidence (\alpha_i). In the case of specular reflectivity we define $\theta := \alpha_i = \alpha_f$.

We define \omega as the tilt angle of the sample with respect to the horizon of the instrument. I.e. for liquid surfaces it is allways zero!.

to be checked for consistency: The position of the detector \delta (realised by 2 translations in x and z direction), its tilt towards the sample -\delta and the detection position of the neutron on / in the detector described by \Delta\delta result in an angle \delta + \Delta\delta = \omega + \theta relative to the instrument horizon. Thus

\theta = \delta + \Delta\delta - \omega

Set-up options

polarisation

Amor is (will be) equipped with a spiral-shaped neutron polariser. It is located before the first chopper within a vacuum housing in the neutron guide bunker.

The polariser is mounted on a vertical translation system which allows for 3 settings:

• polarised: the polariser with a frame overlap filter coating is in the beam
• unpolarised: the frame overlap filter is in the beam
• open: the neutron beam passes in between polariser and frame overlap filter

liquid surfaces

(not yet installed)

The neutron beam can be inclined downward onto a horizontal (liquid) surface by a mirror mounted on the optical bench right after the first diaphragm.

The limited acceptance of this mirror means that only a small part of the beam can be used. I.e. wide-divergence reflectometry is not possible in this mode. The srrong off-specular scattering from a liquid surface anyhow asks for a low-divergent beam.

Within the divergence of the beam before the first diaphragm it is possible to scan / vary the angle of incidence on the sample without moving it vertically.

beam divergence

The natural divergence of the beam at the sample position in the scattering plane is about 1.5 deg. It can be reduced by closing the first slit behind the guide, D1.

The independent movement of the blades allows to vary or scan the position of the slit opening across the divergent beam. I.e. The angle of incidence on the sample can be changed without tilting the sample.

---

cold start of the instrument

Short description of how to start hard- and software after the shut down or after a power failure.

electronic racks

Starting the motor control units (MCU) in rack 1 and the SPS in rack 3 has to be done by the repsective LIN staff. Presently that would be Marccel Schild (MCU) and Roman Buerge (SPS).

Once the SPS is running, one has to set the gas flows for the detector and probably for the flight tube:

SPS
 |- main
 |- Detector 
    |- gas flow 'Detector counting gas' to 7 sccm
    |- gas flow 'Flight tube Argon' to 10 sccm

chopper

Starting the chopper is tricky, instable and time-consuming. Be patient. Mind the order of the operations!

Situation: device control unit DCU (upper box, small display) and supervision (lower box with large screen) switched off

1. switch on DCU and boot
   key switch to 'PC'

2. switch on supervision (back side), boot and wait for AMOR GUI to start

3. on the controll screen:

   1. klick on the top bar of Chopper 1
   2. tag Chopper: DCU Command to Callibrate
      accept-key
   3. klick on the top bar of Chopper 2
   4. tag Chopper: DCU Command to Callibrate
      accept-key
   5. wait for both choppers to report positioning or ready on the DCU screen
   6. klick on the top bar of Chopper 1
   7. tag Chopper: DCU Command to Async Rotation
      Speed to 500 rpm
      accept-key
   8. klick on the top bar of Chopper 2
      DCU Command: Sync. rotation
      Phase: -17
      Master: Master Chopper 1
      Gear Ratio: 1/1
      accept-key
   9. should be fine now!

amor computer and instrument control

The instrument control computer amor.psi.ch (172.28.65.60, PC14655) is located in the cabin under the table on the right side.

1. switch on and boot

2. log in as user amorlnsg (24lns1)

3. start and control processes:
   open a terminal window and switch user to amor:

   su - amor
   marche-gui
   

   in Marche gui:

   • klick amor.psi.ch
   • start nicos
   • start amorIOC
   • start Histogram Memory
   • start all Kafka-to-Nexus... processes
   • start Automatic File Sync

4. start NICOS:

• open a terminal window and enter
  nicos-gui &
• in the NICOS gui klick the tooth wheel
  Connect to server
  User name: user
  Password: 24lns1
  OK

detector

see section MBamor

data visualisation and reduction

as user amorlnsg@amor.psi.ch (i.e. when opening a new termminal on the amor computer) perform the following steps:

source ~/eos/venv/bin/activate.csh
cd <working directory>
python ~/eos/events2histogram.py
display -update 2 e2h.png &

Now you can use events2histogram.py for fast visualisation and eos.py for data reduction in THIS terminal window.

sample environment

in NICOS gui:

|- Setup
|  |- Instrument
|  |  |- frappy       -> select
|  |  |- frappy_main  -> select
|  |- Apply
|
|- Instrument interaction
      |- output          -> type frappy('<device>')

e.g. potentiostat:
frappy('smamor') generates frappy-main with devices se_smi and se_smv

in terminal window:

sea

---

Marche - daemon control

The daemons for NICOS, EPICS, filewriter and so on are controlled via Marche.

1. marche gui

1. log in as user amor@amor.psi.ch
2. call marche-gui

1. marche script ?

the detector MBamor

parameters

size: 14 blades, each 32 channels high and 64 channels wide
sample detector distance (to blade tips): 4000 mm
(distance blade tip to housing front: 33 mm
inclination of the blades: 5.1 deg
separation of blades: 10.5 mm or 0.15 deg

launching of electronics and hardware

1. start server det-efu02 in rack 1
   (a monitor might be needed during booting to enable 'vnc')

2. switch on master module in rack 1

3. switch on assistors on top of the detector tower
   (probably just reconnect the LV cables)
   check Master/ring status: should be 'not configured'

4. ramp up HV

   channel	name	U / V	I / $\mu$A
   0	K1	1230	73
   1	R1	1050	41
   2	K2	1230	73
   3	R2	1050	41

   (start from off position, not from kill)

start processes on server det-efu02

The actions below can either be performed via ssh or vnc. In the latter case (more challenging for the server graphic card) one might have to start the vncserver first on the det-efu02:

presently, vnc does not work - most likely because of RH8. use ssh instead!

1. start vncserver (optional, should be launched at booting)

   cd essproj
   ./startvnc
   cd
   

2. change graphic settings for vnc

   cd detg_git
   ./display_vnc
   cd
   

connecting via vnc

• via web browser from amor or amor-dr: enter 'vnc://det-efu02:5901' in address bar
• via boxes on console
  vnc://172.28.65.80:5901 mit passwd essdaq

1. log into det_efu02: (e.g. from a terminal window on the computer amor.psi.ch as user amor or amorlnsg)

   ssh essdaq@172.28.65.80
   

   (password essdaq)

2. start ring controll`

   cd slowctrl_rmm
   ./run_all.sh
   cd
   

   (the poll numbers should not exceed 16)

   the master/ring status shown on the master module should be green for rings 0, 1 and 2

3. start slow controll pannel

   ./vmmdcs &
   

   VMM3a opens

   initialise slow control in VMM3a window

   1. load configuration

      • open folder (lower left region)
      • select 'Amordetector....' and open
      • Load

      FEN00* shows up

   2. initialise and start acquisition

      • open communication

      • array on the left should show '4' for all hybrids

        if not all hybrids show '4':

        • ACQ off
        • select FEN0/1/2
        • Warm init
        • Send
        • ACQ on

        escalation:

        1. Hard reset (lower right corner)
        2. power cycle LV (NOT front end assistors)

      • send

      • ACQ on

      • array on the left should show '5' for all hybrids

4. start event formation units

   cd Desktop
   ./runall.bash
   cd
   

start processes on amor-dr

daqlite

start daqlite for realtime images of detector output

cd Desktop
./daqlite.bash
cd

start processes on amor

graphana

to monitor the efu activity

1. on amor:

   • open Firefox tab
   • enter https://172.28.65.80:3000 (or bookmark)
   • select 'Freia'

2. on amor:

   • open firefox browser

     address: vnc://det-efu02:5901
     passwd: essdaq

   • open browser

     select AMORB2

shut down

1. slow controll: ACQ off

2. switch off front end assistors

3. in random order:

   • close slow controll

   • close daqlite

   • stop efu on det-efu02:

     cd Desktop
     ./stopall.bash
     cd
     

4. shut down det-efu02
   (can be powerd off without shutting down)

configuration options

chopper signal

The default setting is that the chopper trigger signal is used as a timing signal. I.e. without chopper TTL signal, no data acqusition.
This can be changed on 'det-efu02' in the script .../run_all.sh at approximately line 30:
toggle the comments on the entries
...
and
...

maintanance

temperature

check every couple of weeks:
VMM3a / I2C / measure

uptime

The VMMs have a limited life time (approx 5 years). It is thus recommended to power them down if not used for more than about a week: VMM3a / ACQ off disconnect LV power cable

trouble shooting

• **dark lines VMM3a / ACQ off VMM3a / FEN* / Warm init VMM3a / Send VMM3a / ACQ on

• dark area on detector image but all hybrids show '5' (green):
  restart rings: det-efu02> .../run_all.sh

• no data

  • chopper TTL signal might be missing
  • *VMM3a / ... * all on '5' (green): restart rings:
    det-efu02> .../run_all.sh

trouble shooting

(re)start services

• log in as amor@amor.psi.ch:

• open marche-gui (unless already open)

• check for status of

  • EPICS
  • NICOS
  • chopper.service
  • histogrammer.service
  • kafka-to-nexus.target

  and probably stop / restart / start the service(s)

• I do not remember what this is for:

  telnet localhost 20000
  ^x
  ^[
  quit
  

kafka stuff

check kafka input from efu

on amor:

• source /home/software/virtualenvs/kafka-tools/bin/activate.csh
• kafka-spy -b linkafka01:9092 -t amor_ev44 -C

NICOS commands

start / stop NICOS

in case the Selene pitches MCUs are active, one can deactivate these with

amor> caput SQ:AMOR:SEL2.AOUT M714=0
amor> caput SQ:AMOR:SEL2.AOUT M814=0

The gui can be launched also by the amorlnsg from the console: and to launch the gui

/home/amor/bin/nicos-gui

with

user: user 
password: 24lns1

devices and movements

In NICOS everything is a device!

ListDevices()

shows all available devices

read(<device>)

reads the value of a device

maw(<device>, <value> [, <device2>, <value2> ...])

(move and wait) moves a device to value

move(<device>, <value>)

starts moving a device to value without waiting

wait(<dev1>, <dev2>, ...)

waits for the listed devices to finish

status(<device>)

queries the status of a device

stop()

stops devices, also Ctr-C, Ctrl-C

NICOS devices can have parameters

ListParams(<device>)

lists the accessible parameters of a device

<device>.<parameter>

queries the value of a parameter of device

<device>.<parameter>=<value>

sets a new value for a parameter of a device

ListMethods(<device>)

lists the methods of a device

measurement

count(<mode>=<preset>)

count with mode

• t = time for preset seconds
• m = monitor for preset monitor counts

scan(<device>, <start>, <step>, <np>, <mode>=<preset>)

scan the device from start with np steps of width step with the counting time defined by mode / preset

scan(<device>, [<p1>, <p2>, <p3>, <p4>, ... ], <mode>=<preset>)

scans points p1, p2, ... as given in the list

cscan(dev, center, step, np, t=2)

center-scan: scans device around a center with np steps of width step to either side.

batch files

Batch files are written in python. You can use all of python plus the NICOS command set

run(<scriptname>)

run the script scriptname, which is either relative to Exp.scriptpath or has an absolute path

sim(<scriptname>)

simulate the script scriptname

raw data

Location of the raw data files:

/home/amor/data/<year>/<proposalname>

Location of lof files:

/home/amor/nicos/log