Using McStas for modelling complex optics, using simple building bricks

Peter K. Willendrup, Linda Udby, Erik Knudsen, Emmanuel Farhi, Kim Lefmann

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The McStas neutron ray-tracing simulation package is a versatile tool for producing accurate neutron simulations, extensively used for design and optimization of instruments, virtual experiments, data analysis and user training. In McStas, component organization and simulation flow is intrinsically linear: the neutron interacts with the beamline components in a sequential order, one by one. Historically, a beamline component with several parts had to be implemented with a complete, internal description of all these parts, e.g. a guide component including all four mirror plates and required logic to allow scattering between the mirrors. For quite a while, users have requested the ability to allow components inside components or meta-components, allowing to combine functionality of several simple components to achieve more complex behaviour, i.e. four single mirror plates together defining a guide. We will here show that it is now possible to define meta-components in McStas, and present a set of detailed, validated examples including a guide with an embedded, wedged, polarizing mirror system of the HelmholtzZentrum Berlin type.

Original languageEnglish
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Volume634
Issue numberSp.1
Pages (from-to)S150-S155
ISSN0168-9002
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2011

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