CIRCUS: an autonomous control system for antimatter, atomic and quantum physics experiments

Abstract

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.