Fast Azimuthal Integration using Python

PyFAI is a python libary for azimuthal integration of diffraction data acquired with 2D detectors, providing high performance thanks to GPU computing. Most concepts have been presented at EuroScipy 2014 in this video as well as the proceedings.

The documentation starts with a general descriptions of the pyFAI library. This first chapter contains an introduction to pyFAI, what it is, what it aims at and how it works (from the scientists point of view). Especially, geometry, calibration, azimuthal integration algorithms are described and pixel splitting schemes are explained.

Follows cookbook and tutorials on how to use pyFAI: Cookbooks focus on how to use pyFAI using the various graphical interfaces or from scripts on the command linee. Tutorials use the Jupyter notebook (formerly ipython) and present the Python interface. The first tutorial start with a quick general introduction of the notebooks, how to process data in the general case, subsequent tutorials are more advanced and require already a good knowledge both in Python and pyFAI.. After the tutorials, all manual pages of pyFAI programs, both graphical interfaces and scripts are described in the documentation.

The design of the programming interface (API) is then exposed before a comprehensive description of most modules contained in pyFAI. Some minor submodules as well as the documentation of the Cython sub-modules are not included for concision purposes.

Installation procedures for Windows, MacOSX and Linux operating systems are then described.

Finally other programs/projects relying on pyFAI are presented and the project is summarized from a developer’s point of view.

In appendix there are some figures about the project and its management and a list of publication on pyFAI.

Indices and tables