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Last Updated: Friday, 12 February 2016 16:30

Written by Chavdar Slavov

How to create your own input files

Single scan file format

The single scan files should be prepared as text files with the format described below and exemplified in the test folder that is downloaded with the program. The extension of the single scan files is not important. 

File structure

Do not leave space between the keyword and its assignment.

1. %FILENAME=xxxxxxxx - specifies the file name of the single scan, no extension, no fixed length.
2. %DATATYPE=xxxx - specifies the type of the data contained in the scan file. There are three data types that can be handled, please use one of them:
   1. TAVIS - transient absorption data which will be displayed on a wavelength scale with units in nanometers. Typically used for UV/VIS experiments
   2. TAIR - transient absorption data which will displayed on a wavenumber scale with units cm^-1. Typically used for IR experiments
   3. fluorescence - used for fluorescence data
   4. StreakCam - used for streak camera data
3. %TIMESCALE=xx - specifies the units for the timescale. Options - fs, ps, ns, us, ms, s.
4. %TIMELIST=#### #### #### - specifies the time vector. It should be given as a vector of space separated numbers. The time vector should be the same for all scans that will be averaged.
5. %WAVELENGTHLIST=#### #### #### - specifies the wavelength vector. It should be given as a vector of space separated numbers. The wavelength vector should be the same for all scans that will be averaged.
6. %INTENSITYMATRIX= - specifies a matrix of the experimental data. The matrix should be placed on a new line directly after this keyword and should have dimensions time (rows) x wavelength (columns). The numbers in a row should be space separated.

Scan files list file format

The names and location (unless in the same folder) of the single scan files should be listed in a separate text file with extension '.scans'. This file will be read by OPTIMUS's Data conversion module to collect the separate scans and average them. Tipp: for clarity you can keep your scan files in a subfolder, e.g. 'scanfiles'. The content of the '.scan' file will then look as follows.

scanfiles/150205aa001.dat
scanfiles/150205aa002.dat
scanfiles/150205aa003.dat

OPTIMUS analysis file

The '.ana' file format is the one used by the data analysis modules of OPTIMUS (e.g. OPTIMUS-GLA, OPTIMUS-CA). Those type of files are automatically generated when the Data conversion module is used. The file format is essentially the same as the single scan file format described above. The .ana extension, however is necessary for the program to recognize the type of the file.