Dear scatterers,
Those of you who have been reading this weblog for a while now, may remember the calculation of the sample self-absorption correction for plate-like samples. The result of this was a straightforward equation which could be used to correct the scattering of strongly absorbing samples (>30%) with a plate-like geometry. It was mentioned then, that the calculation of this correction for capillary samples is more complicated, but would be good to have. This sample self-absorption of a capillary will show up as a butterfly-shaped shadow on your scattering pattern.
In the latest issue of J. Appl. Cryst., there is a new paper discussing exactly this. Sulyanov et al. have (programmed) a solution to calculate the sample self-absorption factor for cylindrical samples. The code they provide is available in Fortran, and I will spend some time to try to transcode this into Python in the near future. Judging from their solutions, I am happy I did not try to solve it. The solution seems to be a little bit more complicated than I thought.
Additionally, in the same issue, Zeidler has a solution for samples of spherical geometry. While I have not encountered a problem requiring this solution before, it is certainly noteworthy, and may be of use to some of you doing scattering from suspended objects.
Lastly, there is a new video of one of my latest short presentations online here, explaining a little about my work as well as the monte-carlo analysis method. It’s very short, and there will be a more detailed MC method explanation shortly (as I have promised for quite a while now).
Scatter well!
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