https://doi.org/10.1140/epjqt/s40507-024-00220-6
Research
CIRCUS: an autonomous control system for antimatter, atomic and quantum physics experiments
1
Physics Department, CERN, 23, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland
2
TIFPA/INFN Trento, via Sommarive 14, 38123, Trento, Povo, Italy
3
Department of Physics, University of Trento, via Sommarive 14, 38123, Povo, Trento, Italy
4
Institute for Experimental Physics, Universität Hamburg, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
5
Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University of Technology, ul. Koszykowa 75, 00-662, Warsaw, Poland
6
Felix Bloch Institute for Solid State Physics, Universität Leipzig, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
7
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
8
The Cockcroft Institute, Daresbury, UK
9
INFN Milano, via Celoria 16, 20133, Milano, Italy
10
Department of Physics, University of Latvia, Raina boulevard 19, LV-1586, Riga, Latvia
11
Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Husova 240/5, 110 00, Prague, Prague 1, Czech Republic
12
Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Sem Sælandsvei 24, 0371, Oslo, Norway
13
Department of Physics “Aldo Pontremoli”, University of Milano, via Celoria 16, 20133, Milano, Italy
14
Institute of Physics, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy, and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Grudziadzka 5, 87-100, Toruń, Poland
15
Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano, via La Masa 34, 20156, Milano, Italy
16
Department of Physics, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
17
Czech Technical University, Prague, Brehová 7, 11519, Prague, Prague 1, Czech Republic
18
Raman Research Institute, C. V. Raman Avenue, 560080, Sadashivanagar, Bangalore, India
19
Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Aleja Lotnikow 32/46, PL-02668, Warsaw, Poland
20
INFN Pavia, via Bassi 6, 27100, Pavia, Italy
21
Department of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering and Mathematics, University of Brescia, via Branze 43, 25123, Brescia, Italy
a
marco.volponi@cern.ch
b
saiva.huck@cern.ch
Received:
30
September
2023
Accepted:
2
February
2024
Published online:
15
February
2024
A powerful and robust control system is a crucial, often neglected, pillar of any modern, complex physics experiment that requires the management of a multitude of different devices and their precise time synchronisation. The AEḡIS collaboration presents CIRCUS, a novel, autonomous control system optimised for time-critical experiments such as those at CERN’s Antiproton Decelerator and, more broadly, in atomic and quantum physics research. Its setup is based on Sinara/ARTIQ and TALOS, integrating the ALPACA analysis pipeline, the last two developed entirely in AEḡIS. It is suitable for strict synchronicity requirements and repeatable, automated operation of experiments, culminating in autonomous parameter optimisation via feedback from real-time data analysis. CIRCUS has been successfully deployed and tested in AEḡIS; being experiment-agnostic and released open-source, other experiments can leverage its capabilities.
Key words: Antimatter / Antihydrogen / Aegis / Gravity / Control system / Automation / Quantum / Atomic / Physics
© The Author(s) 2024
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