all_off | 🛑 safety | Put the RGA in a safe state: abort any degas, CDEM off (HV0), filament off (FL0) and quadrupole RF/DC off (MR0). Use when finished, before venting, or if anything looks wrong. It interrupts a running scan or leak check, and every step is attempted even if an earlier one fails. |
analog_scan | 👁 read | Record an analog mass spectrum (SC1): the quadrupole steps through the mass range and the full peak shapes are returned (downsampled) with a peak list, the total pressure measured at the end of the scan, and optionally the full data as CSV. Use it to check peak positions and to survey unknown gases. Duration depends on the noise floor (e.g. 126 ms/amu at NF4). An existing save_path file is never overwritten. |
calibrate | ⚠️ hazard | Calibrate the detector: zero (CA) re-zeroes the ion detector at the present noise floor and detector and corrects the RF scan table for temperature drift (seconds); electrometer (CL) recalibrates the electrometer's full I-V response (longer, clears all zero offsets). The quadrupole RF is switched off at the end. |
cdem_off | 🛑 safety | Switch the electron multiplier off (HV0) and return to Faraday-cup detection. Always allowed, and it interrupts a running scan, mass measurement or leak check. |
degas | ⚠️ hazard | Start an ionizer degas (DG): 20 mA of 400 eV electrons clean the ion source by electron stimulated desorption. The CDEM is switched off and left off. Degassing shortens filament life; prefer a bakeout. Refused above max_filament_pressure_torr and beyond max_degas_minutes. Returns immediately; the RGA is busy until it finishes (any command would abort it), and filament_off / all_off stop it. |
filament_off | 🛑 safety | Switch the filament off (FL0), stopping a degas first if one is running. Always allowed, and it interrupts a running scan, mass measurement or leak check. |
get_command_log | 👁 read | Return the most recent raw commands sent to / replies received from the instrument (newest last). Useful for debugging and for recording what was done. |
get_connection_info | 👁 read | Report which instrument is connected (identity, address, simulated or real), whether the server is read-only, and the active safety limits. Call this first. |
get_status | 👁 read | Report the RGA state: filament emission, CDEM on/off and voltage, ionizer settings, scan settings, stored sensitivity factors, and the decoded error bytes (e.g. FL6 when the overpressure protection shut the filament down). Reading the error bytes clears the communication (EC?) and CDEM (EM?) error bytes, as on the instrument. |
histogram_scan | 👁 read | Record a bar-graph spectrum (HS1): one peak-locked value per integer m/z plus the total pressure. Faster than an analog scan and the usual way to follow a residual gas composition. |
identify_residual_gases | 👁 read | Run a histogram scan and assign the major peaks to likely gases with a simple lookup of standard 70 eV fragment patterns: H2 (2), He (4), CH4 (16/15), H2O (18/17), N2 or CO (28, split with 14 and 12), O2 (32), Ar (40), CO2 (44), plus diagnoses such as an air leak or hydrocarbon contamination. A screening aid, not a quantitative analysis. |
leak_check | 👁 read | Helium leak check: monitor m/z 4 while someone sprays helium on suspect joints, and report the baseline, every response above threshold_factor x baseline (start/end time, peak) and the time series. Keep the first few seconds free of helium so the baseline is clean. The response time of a real leak is a few seconds. Bounded by max_leak_check_duration_s. |
measure_masses | 👁 read | Measure partial pressures at a list of m/z values (peak-locked single-mass measurements, MR). Fast and precise for monitoring known gases; the precision and time per mass are set by the noise floor (set_scan_parameters). Pressures are N2-equivalent. |
read_total_pressure | 👁 read | Measure the total pressure with the RGA acting as an ionisation gauge (TP?, Faraday cup). Needs the filament on and the CDEM off. The value is N2-equivalent and can differ from a Bayard-Alpert gauge by a factor of a few, depending on the gas composition. |
reconnect | 🛑 safety | Close and re-open the connection to the instrument (e.g. after it was power cycled or a cable was re-plugged). |
set_cdem | ⚠️ hazard | Switch the electron multiplier (CDEM) on at a given high voltage for ~100-10000x more signal. High pressure shortens CDEM life and can destroy it, so this is refused unless the pressure is below max_cdem_pressure_torr (RGA total pressure measured now with the Faraday cup, a recent one, or external_pressure_torr), and the voltage is capped by max_cdem_voltage_v. Total-pressure readings are disabled while the CDEM is on. |
set_filament | ⚠️ hazard | Switch the filament on (or change its emission current). The filament burns out or is damaged above 1e-4 Torr, so this is refused unless the pressure is below max_filament_pressure_torr: pass external_pressure_torr from a separate gauge, or, if the filament is already on, the RGA's own total pressure is measured. The RGA's protection will also shut the filament down on overpressure (reported as FL6). |
set_scan_parameters | 🎛 control | Change measurement settings: noise floor (speed vs detection limit), electron energy, ion energy, focus plate voltage and analog-scan resolution. Sensitivity factors stored in the head are only valid at the default ionizer settings (70 eV, 12 eV, 90 V). After changing the noise floor the detector zero is re-adjusted automatically at the start of the next scan. |