##qy

Quantum photonics with Python. Control and automation, DAQ, IO, simulation, graphics, GUI, analysis.

This library is tested under Python27. It depends on numpy, matplotlib. For RS-232 communication with hardware, we need the pySerial library. For GUIs, we use wx.

Some old modules still depend on Scipy and Cython --- soon these will no longer be required.

To quickly get started with qy under Microsoft Windows, use the precompiled installer: TODO: implement this!

qy includes a number of optimized Python extensions written in C. If you want to modify and/or build from source, you will need a C compiler (I suggest MinGW under Windows). A simple build/install is then done with

$ python setup.py build
$ python setup.py install

You may need to tell setuptools which compiler to use

$ python setup.py build -c mingw32
$ python setup.py instal

If you are modifying code in qy, I strongly reccomend the develop mode provided by setuptools:

$ python setup.py develop

This saves typing python setup.py install before each test.

• qy.analysis Statistical/data analysis. Coincidence counting, classical metrics, etc.
• qy.formats File formats. Currently just the CTX format, which attempts to provide a sane representation of laboratory data.
• qy.graphics Utility functions for graphing. Color pallettes. Some example code for generating 3D plots with POVRay.
• qy.gui wx-based user interface modules for various pieces of lab hardware. Focus on coincidence counting.
• qy.hardware Interfaces to motor controllers, lasers, timetaggers, FPGAs, Arduinos, etc.
• qy.settings Keeps global settings for qy in a single place. Uses an rc-like format.
• qy.simulation Includes definitions for the circuit model (basis states, Paulis, 1-qubit/2-qubit gates), some bulk optical elements (HWP, QWP, polarizer etc).
• qy.simulation.linear_optics A generic p-photons-in-m-modes linear-optics simulator. Based around an optimized implementation of the permanent. Draws pretty pictures, and is quite fast for certain scenarios.
• qy.util Stuff with no other home. Timestamping, progress bars, unicode wrangling.

###TODO

• Optimize settings module (and standardize to rc format?).
• Get rid of Scipy ($ grep -rl "scipy" ./)
• Stress test cython code in linear_optics
• Tidy up hardware modules, get code from other people e.g. PicoHarp