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Gamry Framework .DTA

Gamry Framework writes one .DTA text file per potentiostat experiment: cyclic and linear sweep voltammetry, chronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry, impedance (EIS) and open-circuit potential. OpenReadout returns every table in the file as a trace and the header parameters as experiment facts. Derived from public files written by an Interface 5000 and from gamry-parser (MIT), read as documentation and used as a reference reader. Provenance: docs/provenance/gamry-dta.md. Crate: openreadout-echem.

format id files reads confidence
gamry-dta .DTA beginning EXPLAIN / TAG (Gamry Framework) every table (curves, impedance, open-circuit record) and the header parameters evidence rubric (docs/assurance.md)

(.dta is also Stata’s extension and Bruker BES3T’s data file: the first two lines decide.)

Layout

Text, tab-separated. Header lines KEY TYPE value… (LABEL, QUANT, IQUANT, POTEN, SELECTOR, TOGGLE, TWOPARAM, PSTAT; NOTES is followed by its count of note lines). Tables: KEY TABLE [points], a row of column names, a row of units, tab-indented rows. CURVE, CURVE1 … CURVEn (the cycles of a CV) share one trace, one sweep each; ZCURVE is the impedance table, OCVCURVE the open-circuit record before the run; other tables keep their name. Numbers in the PC’s locale (a decimal comma is accepted).

column our channel unit
Pt point —
T, Time time s
Vf potential V (vs. reference)
Im current A
Vu potential_uncompensated V
Sig signal V
Ach aux_channel V
IERange current_range —
Cycle cycle —
Freq frequency Hz
Zreal, Zimag z_real, z_imag Ω
Zsig z_signal V
Zmod, Zphz z_modulus, z_phase Ω, °
Idc, Vdc current_dc, potential_dc A, V
Vm potential_measured V
Temp temperature °C
Q charge C

Other columns keep their name in lower case with the file’s unit. Text columns (Over, the overload flags) are left out (info finding text_columns). extra.label holds Gamry’s name and extra.file_unit its unit text.

What the reader returns

One trace per table group, time as channel 0 (irregular abscissa) when the table has one. Experiment: vendor Gamry Instruments, potentiostat, Gamry Framework; TAG as the experiment parameter and technique (CV, LSV/POLDYN, CHRONOA, CHRONOP, EISPOT, EISGALV, CORPOT mapped to CHMO terms); TITLE as method name; PSTAT as the instrument serial; notes as comment; DATE/TIME as start (month/day/year, local time); AREA (cm²) and SCANRATE (mV/s). Vendor tree gamry: every header line.

Validation

tests/series_oracle/mod.rs: gamry-parser 0.4.6 (MIT, run as a black box) returns the same values for every numeric column of every curve (and the OCV curve), exactly. One further depositor is held out.

Vocabulary (public API of openreadout-echem, Gamry)

identifier meaning
GamryReader reader of Gamry .DTA files
GAMRY_FORMAT_ID gamry-dta

How this reader was derived, file by file: provenance log.