Releases#

Note

If you are updating from firmware version 0.9.0 or earlier, please be aware that the update procedure has additional steps. Please consult the release notes for Qblox Instruments: 0.14.0 (2024-08-12) for more details.

Important

All users on firmware version 0.12.0 (Qblox Instruments Driver version 0.17.0) are strongly advised to upgrade immediately to version 0.12.1 or later due to a bug in 0.12.0 which may lead to unreliable experimental data.

2025-10-29#

Firmware Update

Qblox Instruments

Qblox Scheduler

New hardware#

We released the DC Cluster mainframe, a ground-loop-free, low-noise mainframe enabling ultra-stable, high-resolution DC sourcing and precision measurement. Check it out in the user guide!

Documentation overhaul#

We significantly overhauled the documentation. Some highlights:

Python Support#

The minimum supported Python version has been raised to 3.10. Kindly verify that your installed Python version is 3.10 or above.

Qblox Scheduler - 1.0.0-beta1#

We are proud to announce Qblox Scheduler, our new high level package for Qblox hardware. It features greatly improved usability and syntax, the ability to run loops directly inside the Qblox Cluster and many more. It is currently available as a public beta. Check out the applications section to see it in action, and the user guide for the full details.

Firmware - 0.13.0#

New features#

  • The acquisition memory is increased by more than 20x for QRM, QRM-RF, QTM to 3,000,000 bins for the module (previously 131,071).

Breaking changes#

  • Stopping the Q1 before RT_EXEC started now triggers the Q1_STOPPED state instead of STOPPED

Fixes#

  • Fixed automatic mixer calibration sporadically failing

  • Sequencer status can no longer reach STOPPED state without the RT_EXEC starting or finishing

  • Sequencers with no configured acquisitions no longer return the acq_config of sequencer 0

  • Sequencers without acq no longer try to toggle the irq mask of avg_binning_done

  • Disabled unused LINQ PHYs to reduce the noise

Qblox Instruments - 1.0.0#

Compatible with device firmware 0.13.0 and 0.12.1.

New features#

  • Performance improvements

    • Significantly improve performance of acquisition retrieval

    • Add Sequencer.update_sequence method to send partial updates to a previously set sequence. This can drastically reduce experiment runtime.

    • Add option as_numpy to Cluster.get_waveforms, Cluster.get_weights, Cluster.get_acquisitions to return data as NumPy arrays instead of Python lists. Passing as_numpy=True can reduce experiment runtime

  • Quality of life

    • Download and install the latest Cluster firmware when running qblox-cfg <ip> update without specifying a firmware file

    • Improve readability of print_readable_snapshot by increasing spacing

    • Improve Module.__repr__ to display a human-readable string when printing a module directly or with Cluster.get_connected_modules()

  • Other changes

    • Return a warning when a Cluster has an invalid serial number when running qblox-pnp list

    • Add option epoch to the accepted io_channel.binned_acq_time_ref QCoDeS parameter set values

    • Add Module.toggle_all_lo method to toggle all local oscillators on the module

Fixes#

  • Resolve an issue that caused firmware updates to fail on some Clusters running 0.9.x firmware

  • Allow non-ascii characters as comments in Q1ASM programs

  • Allow connecting to a Cluster without any modules present

  • Ensure that connected and present QCoDeS parameters always return a consistent value in snapshots, without sending unnecessary SCPI commands

  • Register unknown system status flags as UNKNOWN

Older releases#

You can find older releases in this document.