*3.3.2 The comments columns, the saved files and the experimental report*

Below the Controls columns there are three indicators. "# per Scan" indicates the number of points to measure within a single scan, "Now scan #" indicates the number of current scan and "Meas. Numb." indicates the incremental measurements numbering. As already mentioned, each time a measurement is launched, the software creates three files using the sample name, date/time and measurement number for naming the files. Those files are saved in a folder, which is created automatically at each startup during initialization, named with the date of the measurement. The three files have all identical names but different file extensions. The \*.dat file contains all single points of the measurement. The \*.txt file contains only the averages for all points and all scans. The third file is a \*.jpeg file with the printout of the experimental report.

Below the indicators there are two text fields with the user name (for future references) and a free textbox in which the user will write all parameters which are not under TeraVision control (sample temperature, electric or magnetic fields applied to the sample, and so on…) and whatever observation is relevant to the present experiment. This "comment" textbox is extremely useful for creating the experimental report file. **Figure 6** shows an example of a report file. The measurement number and sample name are in the top row of the page. In the center of the page there are the graphs of the measurement, and just below them there is a textbox with all relevant parameters, the units of each column in the data files and the free comment textbox, just described above. The reason while we have chosen the \*.jpeg format instead of the more used \*.pdf file is that having one folder with up to 100 or more measurements, the user must open those 100 \*.pdf files individually in order to find the measurement he/she is searching for. Using jpeg and any picture viewer, one can just browse all pictures in the folder within the same window simply by pressing an arrow key, and it is even possible to use the preview function so that one does not need to actually open the file in order to know what is inside that specific measurement. We found that if one makes use of this report wisely and carefully, it can create a digital log-book which can partially replace the need of a physical hand-written lab-book.
