Session

In this chapter, we provide a brief overview of the functionality of the Session class. A Session is the fundamental way to interact with physical and emulated devices within the LabOne Q framework. This class represents a single client session to a data server, which manages the communication between the user PC and the instruments in the QCCS system. For a more detailed description of the architecture, we refer the reader to the LabOne user manual.

In the context of LabOne Q, the Session can be defined using a DeviceSetup and takes care of verifying the availability of the instruments described by this class. As the main endpoint for the user interaction with the QCCS, a session object holds information about the physical wiring of the devices and their calibrations properties, information about the experiment definition that can be run on the devices, and the results of executed experiments.

## define Session object
session = Session(device_setup=device_setup)

## connect the Session
session.connect()

Using this class it is possible to run experiments, compile experiments without running them, adjust the level of logs produced during execution, and much more.

## compile an experiment without running it
session.compile(exp)

## set log level to debug
import logging
session.log_level = logging.DEBUG

## run the experiment
session.run(exp)

A complete list of the functionalities of this class can be found in the API documentation.

Emulation Mode

A Session can be run in emulation mode by connecting with the corresponding do_emulation=True option. No actual connection to the physical devices is attempted in this case.

## connect the Session in emulation mode)
session.connect(do_emulation=False)

Note, that the compiler still produces code consistent with the requirements of the devices within that Session object.

The emulation mode of the Session therefore serves to test the compilation and -to some extent- execution of experiments without using the actual instruments. A successfully executed experiment will produce arrays with axes corresponding to the sweeps, averaging and data acquisition settings of the experiment. These arrays contain complex mock-up data for debugging purposes

A + j*B

The real part A of this mock-up data corresponds to 42 plus the index of the integrator unit assigned to the particular channel of the emulated QA device where the experimental signal is mapped to. This means that for typical settings where signals from multiple qubit readouts are multiplexed into one channel, this index will correspond to the qubit index. The complex component B indicates the index in the data array.

Reusing an Active Session

The Session object needs a few seconds to establish the initial communication to the instruments connected to the dataserver. Repeatedly initializing new Session objects can therefore lead to a significant time overhead and should be avoided.

Note

An initialized and connected Session object is intended to compile and execute all experiments of a given workflow.

Instead, an active Session object can compile and run multiple different experiments.

## run the first experiment (compilation happens implicitly)
session.run(exp1)

## compile the second experiment
compiled_exp2 = session.compile(exp2)
## run the second experiment
session.run(compiled_exp2)

Zurich Instruments Toolkit

As the fundamental class for the instrument interface, a Session can be used to control individual devices and node values. This is performed using the zhinst.toolkit to address a specific device contained in the Session.

Danger

Using Toolkit functions is not possible if the Session was created in emulation mode, as it is impossible to address physical nodes without connecting to an instrument.

Warning

• When LabOne Q controls devices by running an experiment via session.run(), never use subscribe/poll over zhinst.toolkit (neither in the main script before/after session.run(), nor in the near-time callbacks)
• When working solely with the zhinst.toolkit and only getting the initial connection via LabOne Q session, use subscribe/poll as you need it.

To address a device, we can use its uid as defined in the descriptor, and then using a toolkit command to change a specific node.

## connect to the session
session.connect()
## change the amplitude of channel 1 to 1 V
session.devices["device_hdawg"].awgs[0].outputs[0].amplitude(1)

Note

A device can also be addressed using its serial number instead of its uid. Using this descriptor, for example, we could substitute device_hdawg with DEV8000 to produce an identical result.

Using this functionality, a Session can be used to change, or even sweep, a node of a device inside an Experiment definition, as described in the chapter Callback Functions and 3rd-Party Devices. Note that this can only be done in near-time.