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Parallel Monte Carlo Simulation Using Desktop Computers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

John Henry J. Scott ,
Robert L. Myklebust  and
Dale E. Newbury
John Henry J. Scott
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Robert L. Myklebust
Affiliation:
Myklebust Consulting
Dale E. Newbury
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology

Extract

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Monte Carlo simulation of electron scattering in solids has proven valuable to electron microscopists for many years. The electron trajectories, x-ray generation volumes, and scattered electron signals produced by these simulations are used in quantitative x-ray microanalysis, image interpretation, experimental design, and hypothesis testing. Unfortunately, these simulations are often computationally expensive, especially when used to simulate an image or survey a multidimensional region of parameter space.

Here we present techniques for performing Monte Carlo simulations in parallel on a cluster of existing desktop computers. The simulation of multiple, independent electron trajectories in a sample and the collateral calculation of detected xray and electron signals fall into a class of computational problems termed “embarrassingly parallel”, since no information needs to be exchanged between parallel threads of execution during the calculation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Microscopy Today , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , March 2000 , pp. 34 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2000

References

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