Transfocator¶

A Transfocator is a tunable X-ray focusing apparatus based on compound refractive lenses. By varying the number of lenses in the beam, the energy focused and the focal length can be varied continuously throughout a large range of energies and distances.

Underlining Control¶

Transfocators are controlled through a Wago PLC’s output module that activates pneumatic actuators. The state is read through Wago PLC’s input module: every lens and pinhole has two limit switches that read IN or OUT state.

Configuration¶

The configuration should define in particular the number of lenses and the number of pinholes. Both lenses and pinholes have a binary state in the sense that they can only be inserted or removed.

Example YAML configuration file, automatic layout¶

name: tfmad
class: transfocator
controller_ip: 160.103.50.57
lenses: 7
pinhole: 2
safety: True

The number of lenses is mandatory. The number of pinholes vary from 0 to 2, consider the following cases:

If pinhole: 1 we assume that the pinhole is at the beginning
If pinholes: 2 we assume that pinholes are one at the beginning and one at the end

If safety: True a pinhole is forced in whenever a lens is in. Omitting safety parameters equals to safety: False.

Alternative YAML configuration file, specifying layout¶

name: tf
class: Transfocator
controller_ip: wcid232b
# beam from the left
layout: P L L L L X X X P

layout is a string separated by spaces, describing pinholes (P) and lenses (L) within the transfocator, with incident beam coming from left to right. X means: empty slot.

Additional settings¶

read_mode: 0 (default) means first transfocator lens in beam state switch is wired first in Wago
- any other value means the opposite, that the first transfocator state switch is wired last
cmd_mode: 0 (default) means first transfocator lens action switch is wired first in Wago
- any other value means the opposite, that the first transfocator action switch is wired last