The development of SonicPy [1] is particularly significant given the long-standing interest in improving sound speed measurements in materials under high-pressure conditions. Sound speeds, both longitudinally- and shear-polarized, are closely related to materials' elastic moduli, and their accurate measurement plays a crucial role in various areas of research, such as pressure-induced phase transitions and determining the equation of state and the pressure dependence of elastic moduli for a wide range of materials.

SonicPy offers a highly interactive graphical interface and is compatible with both stepped multi-frequency and broadband-pulse couplant-corrected methods. This compatibility has significantly improved the way researchers handle high-pressure and high-temperature samples. The Time-of-flight analysis program within SonicPy enables efficient examination and analysis of multi-dimensional sets of waveforms, such as multi-pressure and/or temperature dependent data and multi-frequency data, moving beyond the limitations of analyzing one waveform at a time.

With the ability to reduce data analysis time from hours to mere minutes, SonicPy provides users at 16-BM-B, HPCAT, and other facilities with a valuable tool for making informed decisions about experimental parameters in a timely manner. Consequently, researchers can expect increased throughput and accuracy in their ultrasound experiments, contributing to overall progress in the field.

[1] Rostislav Hrubiak and Blake T. Sturtevant (2023) SonicPy: a suite of programs for ultrasound pulse-echo data acquisition and analysis, High Pressure Research, DOI: 10.1080/08957959.2023.2182209