How to use HF outputs

Every Presto comes with 2 high-frequency (HF) outputs which can output a continuous wave (CW) signal between 10 MHz and 15 GHz. The maximum output power is 8 dBm at 8 GHz and 5 dBm at 15 GHz, so they are typically a perfect tool for pumping a parametric amplifier.

The function used to set the parameters of HF outputs is Hardware.set_lmx(). The output signal is updated “immediately”, but in order to make sure the output has stabilized before continuing with your script, you might want to wait some short amount of time.

freq = 12e9  # Hz
pump_pwr = 35  # int in [0, 47]
port = 1  # (int or list of int) - valid values are 1 and 2
pls.hardware.set_lmx(freq, pump_pwr, port)
pls.hardware.sleep(10e-3, wait=False)  # sleep 10 ms

The output stays on indefinitely, so it is a good idea to turn it off at the end of the sequence.

pls.hardware.set_lmx(0.0, 0, port)