[NOBUGS] McStas 2.6 release

Fri Jan 24 13:31:25 GMT 2020

Dear all,

A new release of McStas, v. 2.6 has been built and is ready for download! Download and installation instructions are available via our GitHub download pages (https://github.com/McStasMcXtrace/McCode/tree/mcstas-2.6-release/INSTALL-McStas)

Highligts from the release are listed below.

Greetings from the McStas team - hope you will enjoy this new release! :-)

On behalf of the McStas team,

Peter Willendrup

Peter Kjær Willendrup
Forskningsingeniør, Specialkonsulent
Næstformand for DTU Fysik LSU

DTU Physics

[cid:b6339554-7f28-441d-9f31-5944f811397c at win.dtu.dk]

Technical University of Denmark

[cid:e108e480-fcab-46e2-9531-b38165079572 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>

Changes in McStas v.2.6, January 24th, 2020

 McStas 2.6 is the eight release in the 2.x series and fixes various issues with McStas 2.5, plus
 new developments.

 Thanks:
 - Thanks to all contributors of components, instruments etc.! This is what Open Source
   and McStas is all about!

 Installation:
 - Our install docs are now available on the McCode GitHub page at
 https://github.com/McStasMcXtrace/McCode/tree/master/INSTALL-McStas

 Fixes of issues from last release:
 - A number of issues from 2.5 were corrected, see the relevant GitHub issues for details:
   - https://github.com/McStasMcXtrace/McCode/issues?utf8=✓&q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aclosed+label%3A%22McStas+2.5%22+

 Plus lots of work in general:
 https://github.com/McStasMcXtrace/McCode/issues?page=1&q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aclosed++project%3AMcStasMcXtrace%2FMcCode%2F5&utf8=✓

 Tools:
 - As for the earlier few releases the default set of tools are Python-based and developed by Jakob Garde, DTU.
   The Perl ones are still around as a backup solution, handy for those that prefer "the oldschool way"
   - See https://github.com/McStasMcXtrace/McCode/wiki/User-documentation-for-the-2017--Python-tool-set for usage
   - On Unix platforms, the Perl tools are accessible by adding .pl to the wanted tool (mcgui.pl etc.)
   - On Windows, the Perl tools are accessible by adding -pl to the wanted tool (mcgui-pl etc.)
   - BUT: Please use the Python tools and provide feedback rather than sticking with the Perl! :-)
 - Contribution from Tobias Weber ILL: Python-version of mcresplot.

 Platforms:
 - Nothing really new to report here. We still support 64bit Windows 10, all recent 64bit macOS, Debian-based and RPM-based distros
   (RPMs are built on/for CentOS, you may get varying milage elsewhere.)

 Libraries:
 - Updated version 1.0.0 NCrystal library from T. Kittelmann (ESS) and X.X. Cai (CSNS), distributed with McStas on Unix
   platforms only. To use it, carry out the below steps:
     mcstas:~/NCryst$ mcstas-2.6-environment
     mcstas:~/NCryst$ source $MCSTAS/ncrystal/setup.sh
     mcstas:~/NCryst$ ncrystal_preparemcstasdir
     mcstas:~/NCryst$ cp $MCSTAS/examples/NCrystal_example_mcstas.instr .
     mcstas:~/NCryst$ mcrun -c NCrystal_example_mcstas.instr
   The NCrystal library from this version of McStas also includes the nice ncrystal_inspectfile python tool that allows
   to quickly visualise scattering-kernel data from .ncmat, .nxs, .lau and .laz files. To use that:
     mcstas:~/NCryst$ mcstas-2.6-environment
     mcstas:~/NCryst$ source $MCSTAS/ncrystal/setup.sh
     mcstas:~/NCryst$ ncrystal_inspectfile $NCRYSTALDIR/data/Ca_sg225.ncmat
 - MCPL library from the same authors now included at v. 1.3.0. The distributed version of MCPL now includes the
   python-based pymcpltool command that can e.g. be used to extract gaussian statistics from MCPL files. McStas now
   ships the mcpl2phits and phits2mcpl tools (mcpl2ssw and ssw2mcpl have been included since mcstas-2.3).
 - Updated version of the NXS lib from Mirko Boin HZB.

 Components:
 - Updated Union library from Mads Bertelsen, ESS DMSC including:
   - New geometries, mesh (for stl file input in Union setups) and cone (e.g. relevant for describing anvils
     in pressure cells.
   - New AF_HB_1D_process for modelling 1D antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains and PhononSimple_process for
     modelling single-branchg acoustic phonons ala Phonon_simple
   - New SINE2020-developed Union physics processes from Victor Laliena, Uni Zaragoza: Texture_process.comp
     and IncoherentPhonon_process.comp. See https://doi.org/10.3233/JNR-190117.
 - Shieldinglogger-components from Rodion Kolevatov, IFE for estimating gamma-production in guides:
   - Contributions Dose_calculator and Shielding_calculator
   - Patched versions of optics-components: Elliptic_guide_gravity_shieldinglogger, Guide_channeled_shieldinglogger,
     Guide_curved_shieldinglogger, Guide_gravity_shieldinglogger, Guide_shieldinglogger
   - Components patched / derived from the "scatterlogger" framework to model Ni and Ti layers seperately: Shielding_log_iterator_Ni_new,
     Shielding_log_iterator_Ti_new, Shielding_log_iterator_stop, Shielding_log_iterator_total, Shielding_logger.comp,
     Shielding_logger_stop.comp.
   - See https://doi.org/10.3233/JNR-190123, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.12.069 and https://doi.org/10.3233/JNR-180088
   - Please note that the included Shielding- and Dose- calculators will only give sensible for guides with
     borosilicate glass substrate. If the substrate is, e.g. copper, the dose rates from neutrons transmitted
     through the coating and captured in the substrate will overshoot the coating contribution significantly,
     so that shielding has to be enforced by few tens of centimeters of concrete.
 - Guide_anyshape_r additions from Peter Link MLZ. Allows describing geometry in OFF format with reflectivity "per" face.
   Test instrument is Test_guides which has been updated to include this modified component.
 - Vertical_Bender from Andrew Jackson ESS and Richard Heenan STFC. Allows modelling a multi-channel bender
   that curves vertically down.
 - SANS_spheres2 by Peter Willendrup, derived from Henrich Frilinghaus' SANS_benchmark2. More realistic cross-section
   calculations than from e.g. Sans_spheres. templateSANS2.instr is the related test instrument.
 - Updated version of Sample_nxs from Mirko Boin HZB.
 - Guide_simple is identical to Guide except from not having OFF library support. Common with forthcoming
   McStas 3.0 beta release with GPU support.
 - Elliptic_guide_gravity promoted from contrib to optics since Mads Bertelsen is full member of McStas dev team.
 - PolAnalyser_ideal and Set_pol moved from misc to optics.
 - NPI_tof_theta_monitor is in contrib, was by mistace placed in monitors before.
 - Single_magnetic_crystal.comp is an experimental magnetic csingle crystal model. Its operational model is based
   on that of Single_crystal.comp but supports SF and NSF magnetic scattering. The present model only supports
   the SF-NSF paradigm along a given reference vector.
 - PSD_monitor_4PI_spin.comp is a version of PSD_monitor_4PI but with separate SF- and NSF-channels

 Instruments:
 - Union_test_texture.instr demonstrates use of Texture_process.comp by Victor Laliena. To be used with datafile
   "coef_Four_L2.txt" found in the installation data-folder. This datafile contains texture information on Zr alloys
   derived from the publication https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.08.003.
 - Union_IncoherentPhonon_test.instr demonstrates use of IncoherentPhonon_process.comp by Victor Laliena. To be used
   with datafile "dos_meV.txt" found in the installation data-folder.
 - Union_test_mesh.instr demonstrates use of mesh geometry in Union
 - ESS_BIFROST_shielding.instr and PSI_Focus_shielding.instr, demonstration of Shielding_logger concept from
   Rodion Kolevatov
 - TasResoTest, triple-axis resolution test instrument from Tobias Weber ILL. Can be used with his new tool
   development mcresplot.py.
 - Tools_ONION, instrument to investigate q-resolution via Mantid, by Thomas Huegle, ORNL. See also
   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2019.162711 and the related python code available at
   https://github.com/McStasMcXtrace/McCode-contribution-support-docs/tree/master/McStas/2.6_Onion_tool_T_Huegle
 - templateSANS_MCPL, behaves like the normal templateSANS but dumps all events in an MCPL file.
 - MCPL-oriented tool-instruments by Peter Willendrup
   - MCPL2Mantid_flat: Read MCPL input and write Mantid-compatible NeXus output
   - MCPL_filter_energy: Read MCPL input and write only neutrons in wanted energy interval
   - MCPL_filter_wavelength: Read MCPL input and write only neutrons in wanted wavelength interval
   - MCPL_filter_radius: Read MCPL input and write only neutrons with position within wanted radius
   - MCPL_merge: Read up to 10 MCPL input files and write neutrons to a merged MCPL file
 - SINE2020-developed McStas_Isotropic_Sqw, McStas_PowderN, McStas_Single_crystal by Erik Knudsen. They have
   MCPL input/output and are intended for easy use of McStas samples within SIMRES.
 - Test_guides has been modified to include Guide_anyshape_r from Peter Link MLZ.
 - templateSANS2 serves as test instrument for SANS_spheres2.
 - BNL_H8_simple.instr is identical to BNL_H8.instr except e.g. not including SPLIT. Common with forthcoming
   McStas 3.0 beta release with GPU support.
 - PSI_DMC_simple is identical to PSI_DMC.instr except e.g. not including SPLIT. Common with forthcoming
   McStas 3.0 beta release with GPU support.
 - PSI_source is a simple frontend derived from PSI_DMC. Common with forthcoming McStas 3.0 beta release
   with GPU support.
 - mini minimal instrument with source, slit and PSD. Common with forthcoming McStas 3.0 beta release
   with GPU support.
 - Test_single_magnetic_crystal.instr is a skeleton Laue camera which exemplfies use of Single_magnetic_crystal.comp

 Datafiles:
 - Klaus Lieutenant from FZJ/Vitess has collected reflectitivy-data from SwissNeutronics, Mirrotron and S-DH, analysed
   these and fitted the "classical" McStas mirror-reflectivity profile to these. The resulting data have been placed
   in the data directory under the filenames of
   - SwissNeutronics_mirors_2020.txt
   - Mirrotron_mirors_2020.txt
   - S-DH_mirors_2020.txt.
   The files are not to be used directly with reflecting components, but can instead be used as lookup-tables for
   relevant parameters in each case. I.e. for a mirror of nominal m-value m_nom, use m_real, R_0, W and alpha from the
   relevant table.
 - Most other new datafiles are directly related to component- or instrument-additions and have been mentioned above.

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