The optical spectrum of a laser system is one of the most important parameters to understand the operating status and identify problems. Most spectrometers come with a basic control software to record individual spectra. Typically, these tools have only a very limited set of analysis options to calculate important parameters. Furthermore, the long-term evolution of a spectrum can give much deeper insights into an optical setup and can, thus, be a very important input to optimize a system.
Collecting long-term data can easily result in huge datasets. Therefore, an adequate file format and intelligent functions to reduce unwanted data are a must have. By utilizing the database-insipred Hierarchical Data Format (HDF5) it is possible to store multiple parameters and a growing dataset in a single and space-efficient file. The user-interface is once again powered by Python and Qt to enable a cross-platform tool.