Our group takes part in the development of the McStas package, which provides a complete tool box to simulate instruments. A step further is the simulation of Virtual Experiments, which includes accurate models of samples.

ILL Instrument simulations

Many of the ILL instruments have already been simulated using the MonteCarlo ray tracing technique implemented in McStas. Watch the demo movie of McStas.

Virtual experiments

A simulated sample can be added to an instrument simulation. The resulting "virtual" experiment is a valuable tool for both optimising a real experiment or better understanding its results.

The ILL reactor model and flux at beam tubes

We have used MCNP, Tripoli and McStas to compute the flux at each beam tube, and compare them with measured capture flux.