Pychron

Documentation | Developer Guide | Change Log | Roadmap

Overview

Pychron is an open-source platform for noble gas mass spectrometry data acquisition, experiment control, and data reduction. It is developed at the New Mexico Geochronology Research Laboratory at New Mexico Tech and is used primarily for Ar-Ar geochronology and thermochronology workflows.

The codebase includes applications and subsystems for:

• automated experiment execution
• extraction line and laser control
• data reduction and plotting
• DVC-backed data and repository workflows
• mass spectrometer integration
• hardware communication and monitoring

Main Components

pyExperiment Build and execute automated analysis queues.

pyCrunch Reduce, inspect, and export Ar-Ar data products.

pyValve Control and monitor extraction-line hardware.

pyLaser Operate supported laser systems and related motion/control hardware.

furPi Furnace-side control components for supported workflows.

Documentation

Start with:

• Project documentation
• Developer guide
• Git workflow
• Repository settings
• Wiki install notes

Development

The repo now uses GitHub Actions CI via .github/workflows/ci.yml.

Setup utilities

The repo now exposes a Typer-based CLI for basic setup and diagnostics:

• pychron profiles --verbose
• pychron install-plan --profile ngx --profile chromiumco2
• pychron-bootstrap --root ~/Pychron --profile data-reduction
• pychron-bootstrap --root ~/Pychron --profile ngx --profile chromiumco2
• pychron-bootstrap --root ~/Pychron --profile experiment --source-profile felix --setupfiles-source "<setupfiles-dir>" --scripts-source "<scripts-dir>"
• pychron-doctor --root ~/Pychron --profile data-reduction
• pychron export-config --root ~/Pychron --output ~/pychron-config.zip
• pychron import-config --root ~/Pychron_clone --archive ~/pychron-config.zip
• python -m pychron doctor

Typical workflow:

1. Branch from develop or the active integration branch.
2. Make focused changes on a short-lived codex/* or feature/* branch.
3. Run targeted tests locally when possible.
4. Open a PR into the branch you started from.

See the developer workflow guide for the branch model and release process.

Who Uses Pychron

Pychron and related tooling are used by multiple Ar/Ar geochronology and noble gas laboratories, including:

• New Mexico Geochronology Research Laboratory
• University of Manitoba
• WiscAr, University of Wisconsin
• USGS Denver
• Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
• USGS Menlo Park
• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• University of Arizona

Citation

If Pychron contributed to published data collection or data reduction, cite the current release or DOI record when possible. One commonly referenced citation is:

Jake Ross. (2019). NMGRL/pychron v18.2. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3237834