The `Union_abs_logger_nD_scintillator` Component

Absorption logger for a specific position sensitive scintillator detector

Identification

Author: Milán Klausz, derived from Union_abs_logger_nD by Mads Bertelsen
Origin: ESS
Date: 23.09.26

Description

Part of the Union components, a set of components that work together and thus
separates geometry and physics within McStas.
The use of this component requires other components to be used.

1) One specifies a number of processes using process components
2) These are gathered into material definitions using Union_make_material
3) Geometries are placed using Union_box/cylinder/sphere, assigned a material
4) Logger and conditional components can be placed which will record what happens
5) A Union_master component placed after all of the above

Only in step 5 will any simulation happen, and per default all geometries
defined before this master, but after the previous will be simulated here.

There is a dedicated manual available for the Union_components

This component is an absorption logger, and thus placed in point 4) above.

An absorption logger will log something for each absorption event happening
in the geometry or geometries on which it is attached. These are specified
in the target_geometry string. By leaving it blank, all geometries are
logged, even the ones not defined at this point in the instrument file.
Multiple geometries are specified as a comma separated list.

This absorption logger stores absorption as events, with position, velocity,
time and weight. The Monitor_nD libraries are used to write the event files.
This version is a close copy of Monitor_nD, having the same interface, though
the user must be aware that no propagation happens for rays to hit the
detector pixels, instead it uses the position where the ray was absorbed.
Values must still be set for xwidth and yheight: they do not select which
absorptions are recorded, that is decided by the Union geometry named in
target_geometry, but a monitor with zero area is deactivated by Monitor_nD.

This absorption logger needs to be placed in space, the position and velocity
is recorded in the coordinate system of the logger component.

It is possible to attach one or more conditional components to this absorption
logger. Such a conditional component would impose a condition on the state of
the neutron after the Union_master component that executes the simulation,
and the absorption logger will only record the event if this condition is true.

To use the logger_conditional_extend function, set it to some integer value n
and make and extend section to the master component that runs the geometry.
In this extend function, logger_conditional_extend[n] is 1 if the conditional
stack evaluated to true, 0 if not. This way one can check what rays is logged
using regular McStas monitors. Only works if a conditional is applied to this
logger.

This is a scintillator variant of Union_abs_logger_nD, designed for a specific
position sensitive scintillator detector: a GS20 converter layer read out by
a multi-anode photomultiplier tube (MAPMT). The logger is placed in the
converter layer, and represents the physics from the neutron conversion up to
a detection event being triggered in one of the MAPMT pixels.

Instead of logging each absorption at its own position, it converts it into up
to five weighted detection events: the MAPMT pixel facing the absorption
position and its four neighbours. The weights are tabulated position
dependent detection efficiencies, read from the text files
true/up/down/left/right_pixel_hit_efficiency[_high_resolution].txt (must be
present in the working directory). They answer the question "given that a
neutron is absorbed at this position in the converter, what is the
probability that a detection event is recorded in each MAPMT pixel", and were
produced by a separate Geant4 simulation of the scintillation light, applying
a detection threshold per pixel. That threshold suppresses events whose light
is shared between neighbouring pixels and would otherwise be counted twice.
Two MAPMT pixel sizes are supported, each with its own set of tables.

Note that the detector geometry is hard coded to match the tabulated
efficiency files, and is not derived from xwidth and yheight: the tables are
read as a 100 x 100 grid of 0.5 mm bins covering a 50 x 50 mm converter tile,
read out by a MAPMT pixel grid spanning the central 48.5 x 48.5 mm of that
tile. Absorptions outside that map are clamped to its edge bins rather than
rejected, so attaching this logger to a geometry of a different size silently
gives meaningless efficiencies. Using it for another detector means replacing
the efficiency files and adjusting these hard coded values together.

The real MAPMT pixels are not actually all the same size: the outermost ring
of pixels is 0.25 mm larger than the rest (3.25 mm vs 3 mm for the high
resolution grid, 6.25 mm vs 6 mm for the low resolution one). Monitor_nD only
supports a uniform pixel size, so it cannot represent that directly. The
trick used here is to build the Monitor_nD pixel grid at the regular
(smaller) pixel size, spanning the central 48 x 48 mm, and to treat the 0.25
mm wide band just outside it as still belonging to the perimeter pixels: an
absorption position that falls in that band is shifted inward by 0.25 mm -
onto the strip of the grid that Monitor_nD considers part of the
corresponding (undersized) perimeter pixel - before the position is handed to
Monitor_nD, so that Monitor_nD bins the resulting detection event into the
correct perimeter pixel. This repositioning is done purely for pixel
assignment, after the pixel-hit detection efficiencies have already been
looked up for the true, unshifted absorption position (see
compute_scintillator_pixel_hit_probabilities and
move_perimeter_det_event_inside_monitor_limits below).

Input parameters

Parameters in boldface are required; the others are optional.

Name	Unit	Description	Default
target_geometry	string	Comma separated list of geometry names that will be logged, leave empty for all volumes (even not defined yet)	"NULL"
order_total	1	Only log rays that have scattered n times, -1 for all orders	-1
order_volume	1	Only log rays that have scattered n times in the same geometry, -1 for all orders	-1
logger_conditional_extend_index	1	If a conditional is used with this logger, the result of each conditional calculation can be made available in extend as a array called "logger_conditional_extend", and one would then access logger_conditional_extend[n] if logger_conditional_extend_index is set to n	-1
user0	str	Variable name of USERVAR to be monitored by user0.	""
user1	str	Variable name of USERVAR to be monitored by user1.	""
user2	str	Variable name of USERVAR to be monitored by user2.	""
user3	str	Variable name of USERVAR to be monitored by user3.	""
user4	str	Variable name of USERVAR to be monitored by user4.	""
user5	str	Variable name of USERVAR to be monitored by user5.	""
user6	str	Variable name of USERVAR to be monitored by user6.	""
user7	str	Variable name of USERVAR to be monitored by user7.	""
user8	str	Variable name of USERVAR to be monitored by user8.	""
user9	str	Variable name of USERVAR to be monitored by user9.	""
xwidth	m	Width of detector.	0
yheight	m	Height of detector.	0
zdepth	m	Thickness of detector (z).	0
xmin	m	Lower x bound of opening	0
xmax	m	Upper x bound of opening	0
ymin	m	Lower y bound of opening	0
ymax	m	Upper y bound of opening	0
zmin	m	Lower z bound of opening	0
zmax	m	Upper z bound of opening	0
bins	1	Number of bins to force for all variables. Use 'bins' keyword in 'options' for heterogeneous bins	0
min	u	Minimum range value to force for all variables. Use 'min' or 'limits' keyword in 'options' for other limits	-1e40
max	u	Maximum range value to force for all variables. Use 'max' or 'limits' keyword in 'options' for other limits	1e40
restore_neutron	0\|1	Not functional for Union version	0
radius	m	Radius of sphere/banana shape monitor	0
options	str	String that specifies the configuration of the monitor. The general syntax is "[x] options..." (see Descr.).	"NULL"
filename	str	Output file name (overrides file=XX option).	"NULL"
geometry	str	Name of an OFF file to specify a complex geometry detector	"NULL"
nowritefile	1	If set, logger will skip writing to disk	0
nexus_bins	1	NeXus mode only: store component BIN information (-1 disable, 0 enable for list mode monitor, 1 enable for any montor)	0
username0	str	Name assigned to User0	"NULL"
username1	str	Name assigned to User1	"NULL"
username2	str	Name assigned to User2	"NULL"
username3	str	Name assigned to User3	"NULL"
username4	str	Name assigned to User4	"NULL"
username5	str	Name assigned to User5	"NULL"
username6	str	Name assigned to User6	"NULL"
username7	str	Name assigned to User7	"NULL"
username8	str	Name assigned to User8	"NULL"
username9	str	Name assigned to User9	"NULL"
is_high_resolution	0\|1	Selects the MAPMT pixel size (0: low resolution, 6 mm pixels; 1: high resolution, 3 mm pixels), and correspondingly which set of pixel-hit-efficiency table files is read.	0
table_dir	str	Directory of the table files (default: none)	""
init	string	Deprecated and unused. Accepted so that instruments written for McStas/McXtrace 3.8.7 and earlier, which name the Union_init component here, still compile.	""

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ROTATED (	,	,		) RELATIVE

The Union_abs_logger_nD_scintillator Component

Identification

Description

Input parameters

Links

The `Union_abs_logger_nD_scintillator` Component