[NeXus-committee] obsolescence and evolution: NeXus needs a historic dimension

[Osborn, Raymond]

> Those tags should as much as possible be compatible with each other. Obviously "event mode" and "monochromatic beam" are unlikely to occur together. But rather than prescribing a name for groups ("detector") we'd have tags for saying "I'm the small angle detector" and "I recorded the fluorescence". 


Actually, event mode using monochromatic beams is the basis for one of the most exciting recent developments in inelastic neutron scattering, i.e., measuring 4-dimensional S(Q,w) while continuously rotating the sample in a monochromatic beam. This perhaps highlights the challenge of keeping the NeXus base classes current - we really need constant input from the whole community because new experimental configurations are continually being developed. There is a feedback mechanism in facilities that have centralized software development. The Mantid developers are aware of the 4D-S(Q,w) technique because they are developing data reduction for it. It may be more difficult for synchrotron beamlines that are responsible for their own software.

Ray
P.S. This is another reason for allowing ad hoc use of NeXus while people are getting experience with the best way of handling data collected by a new technique. We shouldn’t fix the standard before data analysis procedures are mature.
-- 
Ray Osborn, Senior Scientist
Materials Science Division
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, IL 60439, USA
Phone: +1 (630) 252-9011
Email: ROsborn at anl.gov