File Management

The IMP suite is kept in different places, depending on your computer system. In Windows, it is installed in c://Program Files/IntermodulatorSuite. Users do not need to care about this folder as it contains only static files which should be installed from an installer. All dynamic files that are changed when you change settings in the AFM Suite, store data, save a script, etc., are stored in the folder c://IMP sessions and settings. This folder has the following sub-folders:

Moving data to another computer

To transport your data to another computer for analysis, be sure to first import the host AFM data (i.e. height image data) in to your session folder using the Session Overview. Then simply copy the entire session folder to another computer with the AFM Suite installed. When you perform analysis on another computer, all newly created analysis files will be added to the session folder.

/sessions

This folder contains session folders. Each time you start the AFM Suite a dialog box opens to create a new, or add to an existing session folder. The default name of the new session folder is the date, but you have the option to append a session name to the date. When Autosave is checked (see Status Banner), data is automatically stored in the session folder: scan files, calibration files, stream files, the session log, etc.. When you analyze data to create new files or import host AFM data files, the default behavior is to always store everything in the session folder.

/settings

This folder contains many files that are changed dynamically by the AFM Suite and configuration files for different AFMs. Normal users do not need to work directly with these files but advanced users may want to modify them. If these files become corrupt, they can be discarded and the IMP Suite will automatically recreate the files with their default values on the next start of the IMP Suite. The settings folder has several sub-folders:

/calibration

Contains several text files with the calibration constants for each type of cantilever programmed in the AFM Suite, including those created by a user. There is also a file fluid.txt containing the density and viscosity of the various fluids that you may want to work in.

/configurations

Contains files for configuring the AFM Suite to work with your particular host AFM. The normal user will not need to be concerned with these files.

/drive_setups

Contains the file user_drive_setups.py which is a Python file containing the scripts for the Drive Constructor, both example scripts and user-constructed scripts.

/force_models

Contains Python files with the force models. You can add your own force model files here by copying and modifying /example.py. When you restart the AFM Suite this file will be re-loaded and your model will appear as a new force model.

/scripts

Contains Python scripts which can be sued to control different measurement schemes and create different modes. This is for advanced users who will require some knowledge of the basic Python objects in the AFM Suite. A few examples are given in /Examples.py

/config.ini

This is the main configuration file which is dynamically changed by the AFM Suite. The normal user will not need to be concerned with this file. If it becomes corrupted, it can be deleted and a new file will be created with default values upon restart of the IMP Suite.

If you run the MLA™ as a stand-alone instruent, independant of the AFM Software Suite for ImAFM™, there will also be other files and folders in the main IMP sessions and settings folder. These files and folders are described in a seperate manual dedicated to the MLA™ alone.

File Types

The AFM Suite generates files with a name indicating the type of file, followed by an automatically incremented 5-digit counting number (denoted ‘01234’ below). You are free to append an underscore followed by any valid file text after this counting number (e.g. scan01234_my-file-text.imp). You may experience problems keeping track of your files if you remove or modify this number or the type name before it. The following files are generated by the IMP Suite and stored in a session folder:

  • calib01234.txt noise data and fitted calibration parameters (see Calibration).

  • calib01234.png image of plot in calibration view.

  • sweep01234.txt frequency sweep data (see Frequency Sweep).

  • sweep01234.png image of the frequency sweep plot.

  • scan01234.imp data for one scan, including the current calibration, in HDF5 format.

  • recorder01234.imp continuous stream of data taken in frequency mode (see Stream Recorder).

  • recorder01234.std continuous stream of data taken in time mode.

  • scan01234_model.npz parameter map data for the fitted model (see Parameter Maps).

  • scan01234_p-name.png color map image of the parameter p-name.

  • sessionlog.txt chronological session log (see Session Logbook).

You can always export an image of any plot that you see on screen by clicking the save image icon save_icon in the Image Toolbar, which will bring up a save dialog box with several file format options. You can also export raw data and the results of analysis to a text file using the Data Tree .