New download area for contributions and minor fixes

The website has been enriched with a shared files area, meant for useful files not part of the current distribution.

We foresee to use the area for allowing updates of individual files between releases, as well as making user scripts and tools not part of the distribution available.

Ph.D. students and/or post docs for instrument simulation for the ESS

In connection with the design update of the planned neutron facility: the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, we seek two talented young scientists to perform simulations and optimisations of possible instruments to be built at ESS.

Employer and location:

The two persons will be employed at the Technical University of Denmark and at the University of Copenhagen, respectively. However, both will be associated with the ESS project.

The group:

Both persons will work together in the ESS simulation group, counting around 10 persons. This group will be a part of / collaborate with the 60-person ESS Data Management Center, which is presently under construction in Copenhagen.

Job description:

You will design neutron scattering instruments for ESS using the tools developed in the McStas simulation package. This work will be carried out in collaboration with instrument experts located both in Lund and around the world. For the judgement of the instrument performance, you will perform virtual experiments on samples typical for the particular instrument. In this connection, you will take part in the development of the tools and algorithms to correctly describe neutron scattering samples.

Qualifications:

You must have a suitable university degree (M.Sc. or Ph.D., respectively) within Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, or equivalent. You should have good computing skills, have a good sense of data quality, and be able to work within a team. Furthermore, you should have a good understanding of modeling of physical properties. Specific experience within X-ray and neutron scattering is considered an advantage, but is not required.

Terms of employment:

The salary and appointment terms are consistent with the current rules for PhD degree students or post docs. The Ph.D. position(s) is a fixed-term 3 year employment. The post doc position(s) will be a 2-year contract with a possibility for extension, given sufficient funds. Both University of Copenhagen and DTU wish to reflect the diversity of society and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background. Applications should be submitted by email to lefmann@fys.ku.dk or pkwi@risoe.dtu.dk by August 27th 2010 and should include:

Contact:

July 15th, 2010: McStas 1.12b released!

The McStas developer team is happy to report that the 1.12b release of our software is finally out.

You can get the installer packages from our download page

McStas 1.12b is mostly a bugfix release, but some new components and example instruments have been included. McStas 1.12b will be the VERY last release in the 1.x series.

Part of the reason for McStas 1.12b and its late arrival is our delay in releasing the next major version, McStas 2.0.

McStas 2.0 will be released late 2010 / early 2011 and will introduce new features that could break ceartain backward compatibility, hence we move from the 1.x series. We are also considering a replacement of the GUI and plotting tools for McStas 2.0.

For a complete list of changes in McStas 1.12b, see our CHANGES document.

The new relase was tested on these platforms:

May 26th, 2010: McStas / VITESS user training workshop 2010 has ended

Last week, several McStas and VITESS team members teamed up organising a joint McStas/VITESS user training.

The event was generously sponsored by

The used teaching material has been made publicly available at http://ven2010.essworkshop.org/storage

A pre-release of McStas 1.12b was used by the participants, and this burn-in-test indicates that we can release a new stable McStas within a few weeks.

The organising committee would like to thank all participants, also for their very positive feedback about the event.

March 8th, 2010: McStas / VITESS user training workshop 2010

The McStas and VITESS teams are happy to announce the joint

McStas / VITESS user training workshop 2010

To take place at Backafallsbyn in the Swedish island of Ven, May 17th-21st.

The workshop is a school in order to train technical staff and instrument scientists in using Monte-Carlo code to design better neutron devices and instruments. The programme is split into sessions dedicated to different parts (optics, sample environment, detectors, ...). If you work in one of these areas, and feel like simulating it, then this school is for you, especially if you've never done so before.

Sponsorship / Participation / Cost
Generous support from our sponsors

has made it possible to offer sponsored lodging and participation for up to 25 people. If more than 25 people show an interest, a fee will be announced for further participation, that is the first 25 registrations will be free, the up-to-5 following will require accommodation charge (about 600 euros for the entire school).

We would like all participants to attend, as far as possible, the entire school.

All participants must arrange and pay their own transport to Copenhagen Airport. We will arrange joint transportation from CPH to the Island of Ven.

Further information

Please refer to http://www.essworkshop.org for further information and registration.

Previous news items: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003,2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998.