The OPAL Discussion Forum

["Adelmann Andreas (PSI)" <andreas.adelmann AT psi.ch>]

Dear OPAL enthusiast


It is a pleasure to announce the release of OPAL 1.3.0.


New Features
=======================================================================
Cyclotron Element
-----------------
In order to accommodate axial injection through a spiral inflector,
the Cyclotron element has been updated with a z coordinate and a pz
for the reference particle (ZINIT, PZINIT).

AMG Solver
----------
The AMG Solver (including arbitrary boundary condition) is enabled
per default.

Variable Frequency RF
---------------------
Variable frequency RF is now available in OPAL-CYCL mode when using
the RINGDEFINITION as described in Section 8.13. A new LOCAL CARTESIAN
OFFSET element is introduced to enable overlapping elements in the
RINGDEFINITION, described in Section 8.11.

Appendix of User Manual
-----------------------
Two new Appendixes, Appendix F with Benchmarks (TRANSPORT, TRACE3D and
IMPACT-T) and in Appendix E a description of the auto phasing mechanism
in OPAL-T is available.

Unit Tests
----------
Parts of OPAL can be tested using unit tests, details can be found at A.3


Please consult the user manual for details:
http://amas.web.psi.ch/docs/opal/opal_user_guide.pdf


OPAL Binary Distribution
=======================================================================
There are binaries for Linux and MAC OS X available on the webpage:
https://amas.psi.ch/OPAL/wiki/Downloads

The following operating systems are tested: 
 - Mac OS X 10.9
 - Mac OS X 10.10
 - RedHat EnterpriseLinux 6 and clones (like Centos, ScientificLinux)
 - Redhat EnterpriseLinux 7 and clones
 - Ubuntu 12LTS

Not yet tested but expected to work:
 - Ubuntu 14LTS
 - OpenSUSE 12
 - OpenSUSE 13

Thanks for a note if you are running OPAL successfully one of them.


New Members of the Development Team
=======================================================================
It is also a pleasure announce three new members of the development
team: Tulin Kaman, Valeria Rizzoglio and Daniel Winklehner, welcome!


Future Developments
=======================================================================
Ahead of us is the release of an AMR solver and features for generating
matched distributions for Cyclotrons (and hopefully FFAG’s) with linear
space charge.


Migration of the OPAL Repository to Git
=======================================================================
The OPAL repository will be migrated to Git. The Subversion repository
will be closed on January 28 for writing! There will be an announcement,
as soon as the Git repository is available.

So it is a perfect time to get ready for git!


With the best regards

Andreas Adelmann & Achim Gsell  for the OPAL development team