Sample-thickness attenuation integration

This project is based on the method described in Ref. [1] for the calculation of the attenuation integrated over an assumed sample thickness for elemental materials or compound samples of known stoichiometry and density irradiated in thermal (or cold) neutron-capture reactions. The algorithm is implemented in C++. If you use this software please cite this reference as shown below. For more details please refer to the paper [1] or visit this website and scroll down to the Methodology Development section.

Building

This project should be built using CMake methods.

Build out-of-source

It is not recommended to run cmake inside the source directory. Instead, it is better to create a dedicated build directory:

$ git clone https://github.com/AaronMHurst/attenuation_integration.git
$ cd attenuation_integration
$ mkdir build
$ cmake ../
$ make -j$nproc
$ make install # if desired

Alternatively, the last four commands above can be omitted if the shell script project-build.sh is inoked:

$ git clone  https://github.com/AaronMHurst/attenuation_integration.git
$ cd attenuation_integration
$ sh project-build.sh

Running the program

This program is designed to run by calling the executable from the command line of the terminal in build directory containing the project binary:

$ cd build
$ ./attenuation

The program then prompts the user for several inputs and calculated results are written to file: self_attenuation.dat. A few sample scripts are provided for reference that get copied into the project binary folder during the build process. These scripts can also be invoked at the command line of the build folder:

# To run the gamma-ray attenuation calculation for a 0.08 mm sample of pure
# elemental tungsten (W):

$ ./attenuation < gamma_attn_tungsten.mac

The gamma_attn_tungsten.mac script contains the following set of responses:

Prompt	Response
Calculate attenuation assuming coefficients for:    1 - gamma-ray attenuation only    2 - gamma-ray and neutron attenuation combined	1
Sample in [mm] or [cm] ?    1 - [mm]    2 - [cm]	1
Give sample thickness [mm]:	0.08
Temperature of neutron beam [K] ?	293
Natural Element (1) or Compound Sample (2) ?	1
Chemical symbol for absorber?	W
Use adopted elemental absorption cross section from Mughabghab's Atlas of Neutron Resonances (Ed. 2006)?    1 - Yes    2 - No	1

# To run the gamma-ray attenuation calculation for a 2.5 cm sample of a 
# stoichiometric water compound (H2O):

$ ./attenuation < gamma_attn_water.mac 

The gamma_attn_water.mac script contains the following set of responses:

Prompt	Response
Calculate attenuation assuming coefficients for:    1 - gamma-ray attenuation only    2 - gamma-ray and neutron attenuation combined	1
Sample in [mm] or [cm] ?    1 - [mm]    2 - [cm]	2
Give sample thickness [cm]:	2.5
Temperature of neutron beam [K] ?	293
Natural Element (1) or Compound Sample (2) ?	2
Density of compound [g/cm^{3}]?	1.0
Number of Elements in compound?	2
Chemical symbol for Absorber No. 1 ?	H
Number of atoms belonging to H (i.e. stoichiometry) ?	2
Use adopted elemental absorption cross section from Mughabghab's Atlas of Neutron Resonances (Ed. 2006)?    1 - Yes    2 - No	1
Chemical symbol for Absorber No. 2 ?	O
Number of atoms belonging to O (i.e. stoichiometry) ?	1
Use adopted elemental absorption cross section from Mughabghab's Atlas of Neutron Resonances (Ed. 2006)?    1 - Yes    2 - No	1

References

[1] A.M. Hurst, N.C. Summers, L. Szentmiklosi, R.B. Firestone, M.S. Basunia, J.E. Escher, B.W. Sleaford, Determination of the effective sample thickness via radiative capture, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. B 362, 38 (2015); https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2015.09.003