A new component for the accurate simulation of neutron scattering from magnetic excitations has been developed for the neutron ray-tracing software McStas. The component SpinWave_BCO simulates inelastic neutron scattering from ferro-, antiferro-, and altermagnetic excitations in a body-centered orthorhombic crystal structure, where the dispersion relation and scattered neutron intensities are derived using linear spin wave theory. Data from a simulated Triple-Axis Spectrometer with an extremely high resolution have been verified by direct comparison with theory and by comparison to data simulated using the package SpinW. The component serves as a proof-of-concept for the implementation of a more general linear spin wave component in McStas.
@article{arxiv.2511.22516,
title = {Accurate simulations of magnetic excitations in the neutron simulation package McStas},
author = {Silas B. Schack and Kristine M. L. Krighaar and Emma Y. Lenander and Kim Lefmann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.22516},
year = {2025}
}