[mcstas-users] components Source_simple and Source_gen : parameter "flux"

[Peter Kjær Willendrup]

(Sent by Peter Willendrup on behalf of Thierry Bigault, ILL who originally sent the mail to the now defunct mcstas-support at mcstas.org<mailto:mcstas-support at mcstas.org> address)


Dear McStas programmers,

As I try to get advantage of these special conditions to try and use McStas, I have a beginner's question:

One of my aims is to be sure to have correct orders of magnitude for absolute flux.

I started to use the components Source_simple and Source_gen.
I assume that for the simplest case, the parameters "flux" in Source_simple and "I1" in Source_gen play the same role.
My expectation is that the flux measured by a monitor at a certain distance from the source follows Equation 3.1 in the "McStas 2.6 Component Manual of 24/01/2020", which links the source brilliance with source area, solid angle and wavelength interval.

This is the case with both sources if I set the parameter to 1: with 1 Ang bins, I get a flux on my monitor which scales according to this equation.
Following the component help, this behaviour should be observed by setting the parameter to 0. This in not the case, with 0 as input the calculation gives different flux values, which I am not able to link to anything physical.
The documentation is a bit misleading, because it recommends to put the value to 0 and the default is 1.

in Source_simple:
name:    flux
unit:    1/(s*cm**2*st*energy unit)
description:    flux per energy unit, Angs or meV if flux=0, the source emits 1 in 4*PI whole space.
default:    1

in Source_gen:
name:    I1
unit:    1/(cm**2*sr)
descrption:    Source flux per solid angle, area and Angstrom if I1=0, the source emits 1 in 4*PI whole space.
default:    1

My feeling is that:
- the unit should be in both case as in Source_simple,
- the same sentences would work with "flux=1" and "I1=1", which would be consistent with the default values. I have no idea if the 0 value is useful for some case.

But maybe I completely missed something...
I attached the very simple instrument file which I used.

Thierry






Peter Kjær Willendrup
Forskningsingeniør, Specialkonsulent
Næstformand for DTU Fysik LSU

DTU Physics


[cid:6b49ff07-bbc6-4db3-820c-5307f51551b2 at win.dtu.dk]



Technical University of Denmark


[cid:0cea8b1e-d480-46b2-bcd4-98dec8674d3c at win.dtu.dk]




Department of Physics
Fysikvej
Building 307
DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby
Direct +45 2125 4612
Mobil +45 2125 4612
Fax +45 4593 2399
pkwi at fysik.dtu.dk<mailto:pkwi at fysik.dtu.dk>

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