Specular simulation tutorial

In this example, we will simulate specular signal from a sample with 10 double layers of Ti-Ni on silicon substrate in vacuum environment.

Importing the Python modules

We start by importing the BornAgain Python API and alias it as ba. Then we import some often used unit designations from BornAgain.

import bornagain as ba
from bornagain import deg, angstrom

Sample definition

Our sample will consist of (in the order from top to bottom):

1. Ambient layer (which is not the sample by itself, but is used as initial media of beam propagation) with scattering length density (SLD) exactly equal to zero.
2. Ten repetitions of
• 3 nm thick titanium layer with SLD $\rho_{Ti} = -1.9493 \cdot 10^{-6}$ $\unicode{x212B}^{-2}$.
• 7 nm thick nickel layer with SLD $\rho_{Ni} = 9.4245 \cdot 10^{-6}$ $\unicode{x212B}^{-2}$.
3. Substrate silicon layer with SLD $\rho_{Si} = 2.0704 \cdot 10^{-6}$ $\unicode{x212B}^{-2}$.

As in many other tutorials we will create the sample with dedicated function

def get_sample():
"""
Defines sample and returns it
"""

At first we will create materials of our sample. Here we will use MaterialBySLD, general syntax of which is as follows

<material> = MaterialBySLD("name", sld_real, sld_imag)

where name is the arbitrary name of the material, sld_real and sld_imag correspond to real and imaginary part of material scattering length density in $\unicode{x212B}^{-2}$. Variable <material> is later used when referring to this particular material. In this example we will create four materials: m_ambient, m_ti, m_ni and m_substrate:

    m_ambient = ba.MaterialBySLD("Ambient", 0.0, 0.0)
m_ti = ba.MaterialBySLD("Ti", -1.9493e-06, 0.0)
m_ni = ba.MaterialBySLD("Ni", 9.4245e-06, 0.0)
m_substrate = ba.MaterialBySLD("SiSubstrate", 2.0704e-06, 0.0)

Here we assume for simplicity absorption coefficients (imaginary part of SLDs) being equal to zero.

After creating materials, we create associated layers. It is done with Layer command:

<layer> = Layer(<material>[, thickness])

The first argument to the command (<material>) is the material object created previously with MaterialBySLD command. The second argument (thickness) is the thickness of the layer. Default units are nanometers. The thickness shall be specified only for the intermediate layers, while the ambient and substrate layers are considered half-infinite. Further we create four layers from previously defined materials:

    ambient_layer = ba.Layer(m_ambient)
ti_layer = ba.Layer(m_ti, 30 * angstrom)
ni_layer = ba.Layer(m_ni, 70 * angstrom)
substrate_layer = ba.Layer(m_substrate)

Note that here we used angstroms as thickness units by multiplying thickness values by imported angstrom factor.

Finally, we create the MultiLayer — enclosing object, which contains all sample properties:

    multi_layer = ba.MultiLayer()
for i in range(10):
multi_layer.addLayer(substrate_layer)

MultiLayer() command creates empty sample. After that the layers are added into it one by one from top to bottom with addLayer command. Note that titanium and nickel layers are added in a cycle, which create periodic Ti/Ni structure.

Summing up all the code snippets, we get the following get_sample function:

def get_sample():
"""
Defines sample and returns it
"""

# creating materials
m_ambient = ba.MaterialBySLD("Ambient", 0.0, 0.0)
m_ti = ba.MaterialBySLD("Ti", -1.9493e-06, 0.0)
m_ni = ba.MaterialBySLD("Ni", 9.4245e-06, 0.0)
m_substrate = ba.MaterialBySLD("SiSubstrate", 2.0704e-06, 0.0)

# creating layers
ambient_layer = ba.Layer(m_ambient)
ti_layer = ba.Layer(m_ti, 30 * angstrom)
ni_layer = ba.Layer(m_ni, 70 * angstrom)
substrate_layer = ba.Layer(m_substrate)

# creating multilayer
multi_layer = ba.MultiLayer()
for i in range(10):

return multi_layer

Setting up simulation parameters

def get_simulation():
"""
Defines and returns a specular simulation.
"""
simulation = ba.SpecularSimulation()
simulation.setBeamParameters(
1.54 * angstrom, 500, 0.0 * deg, 2.0 * deg)
return simulation

In this code snippet we have defined the specular simulation with SpecularSimuation() command and also set beam parameters required to produce reflectometry curve. The latter is done with

<simulation>.setBeamParameters(wavelength, n_bins, angle_min, angle_max)

Here <simulation> is the simulation object created with SpecularSimulation command, wavelength is obviously the wavelength of the incident beam (in nanometers by default), angle_min and angle_max — minimum and maximum incident angle (in radians by default). Units of the input arguments can be adjusted by multiplying factors deg, angstrom, etc. n_bins defines the number of points uniformly distributed from angle_min to angle_max.

By default the incident beam has unit intensity. If necessary it can be adjusted by using

<simulation>.setBeamIntensity(value)

As opposed to GISASSimulation (see GISAS simulation tutorial), SpecularSimuation does not imply separate definition of a detector. The result of the simulation is always the total reflected intensity versus the selected incident angles.

Running the simulation and plotting the results

def run_simulation():
"""
Runs simulation and returns its result.
"""
sample = get_sample()
simulation = get_simulation()
simulation.setSample(sample)
simulation.runSimulation()
return simulation.result()

The function run_simulation gathers together all previously defined items. We first create the sample and simulation objects using calls to the previously defined functions. Then we assign the sample to the simulation and finally launch the simulation with runSimulation. In the last line, we obtain the result of the simulation as a SimulationResult object, which contains the axes definition and the simulated intensity as a function of the beam inclination angle $\alpha_i$.

if __name__ == '__main__':
result = run_simulation()
ba.plot_simulation_result(result)

To plot the data using matplotlib routines, we use a convenience function, defined in the BornAgain namespace: plot_simulation_result().

As a result of executing the whole script in the python interpreter

\$ python BasicSpecularSimulation.py

The following image should be displayed on the screen

Further topics

Further examples of specular simulations with BornAgain can be found on the following pages:

Complete script

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61  """ Basic example of specular simulation with BornAgain. """ import bornagain as ba from bornagain import deg, angstrom def get_sample(): """ Defines sample and returns it """ # creating materials m_ambient = ba.MaterialBySLD("Ambient", 0.0, 0.0) m_ti = ba.MaterialBySLD("Ti", -1.9493e-06, 0.0) m_ni = ba.MaterialBySLD("Ni", 9.4245e-06, 0.0) m_substrate = ba.MaterialBySLD("SiSubstrate", 2.0704e-06, 0.0) # creating layers ambient_layer = ba.Layer(m_ambient) ti_layer = ba.Layer(m_ti, 30 * angstrom) ni_layer = ba.Layer(m_ni, 70 * angstrom) substrate_layer = ba.Layer(m_substrate) # creating multilayer multi_layer = ba.MultiLayer() multi_layer.addLayer(ambient_layer) for i in range(10): multi_layer.addLayer(ti_layer) multi_layer.addLayer(ni_layer) multi_layer.addLayer(substrate_layer) return multi_layer def get_simulation(): """ Defines and returns a specular simulation. """ simulation = ba.SpecularSimulation() simulation.setBeamParameters( 1.54 * angstrom, 500, 0.0 * deg, 2.0 * deg) return simulation def run_simulation(): """ Runs simulation and returns its result. """ sample = get_sample() simulation = get_simulation() simulation.setSample(sample) simulation.runSimulation() return simulation.result() if __name__ == '__main__': results = run_simulation() ba.plot_simulation_result(results) 
BasicSpecularSimulation.py