Extracting source parameters from beam monitors on a chopper spectrometer

Abstract

The intensity distributions of beam monitors in direct-geometry time-of-flight neutron spectrometers provide important information about the instrument resolution. For short-pulse spallation neutron sources in particular, the asymmetry of the source pulse may be extracted and compared to Monte Carlo source simulations. An explicit formula using a Gaussian-convolved Ikeda-Carpenter distribution is given and compared to data from the ARCS instrument at the Spallation Neutron Source.