About McStas
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McStas - Monte Carlo simulation of neutron instruments
McStas is an ongoing project to create a general tool for simulating neutron scattering instruments. The project is a collaboration between DTU Physics (formerly RISØ DTU and RISØ Natnl. Lab), European Spallation Source, University of Copenhagen, Paul Scherrer Institute and Institut Laue-Langevin.The efforts have historically been funded through multiple EU programs.
The software is freely available and can be downloaded from this site.
McStas is based on a compiler that reads a high-level specification language defining the instrument to be simulated and produces C code that performs the Monte Carlo Simulation. The system is very fast in use, both when setting up the instrument definition and when doing calculations. Typical figures are 500000 neutron histories per second on a fast PC.
McStas supports triple-axis, time-of-flight instruments, and
polarised
neutrons. It comes with a comprehensive manual and a library of
well-tested
components that include most standard elements of neutron scattering
instruments,
including steady-state and pulsed sources, monochromators/analysers,
guides,
collimators, vanadium and powder samples, velocity selectors and
choppers,
and a variety of detectors.
McStas runs on most of the popular computer systems
(Unix/Linux, Windows, macOS). Please refer to our GitHub
installation pages for installation requirements.
This software required a substantial effort to be brought to you. If you enjoy this software, please use the folowing references in your work:
- K. Lefmann and K. Nielsen, Neutron News 10, 20, (1999).
- P. Willendrup, E. Farhi and K. Lefmann, Physica B, 350 (2004) 735.
- P. Willendrup, E. Farhi E. Knudsen, U. Filges and K. Lefmann, Journal of Neutron Research, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 35-43, 2014
- P. Willendrup, and K. Lefmann, Journal of Neutron Research, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 1-16, 2020
- P. Willendrup, and K. Lefmann, Journal of Neutron Research, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 7-27, 2021
- M. Bertelsen Software for simulation and design of neutron scattering instrumentation, University of Copenhagen PhD Thesis, 2017
