Difference between “Gradient” and “Gradient Integral” plots in Charts, and how to read correct quadrupole gradient sign
Posted: Wed 29 Oct 2025 15:48
Dear Didier,
I am trying to understand the meaning of the “Gradient” and “Gradient Integral” plots shown under Charts → Gradient in TraceWin.
In my case, I defined several quadrupoles manually in the Edit window, as shown below:
QUAD 150 2.55609 104 0 0 0 0 0
DRIFT 110 130 0 0 0
QUAD 300 -1.90877 104 0 0 0 0 0
DRIFT 96.66 130 0 0 0
QUAD 150 2.67971 104 0 0 0 0 0
DRIFT 709.2 130 0 0 0
However, when I open the Charts → Gradient plot (see attached Fig.1), all the gradient values appear as positive, so I cannot tell the sign of each quadrupole from this graph.
Then, in Charts → Gradient Integral (Fig.2), the values are also positive and seem to represent integrated quantities, but again without clear sign information.
So my questions are:
(1)What is the exact difference between the “Gradient” and “Gradient Integral” plots? What does each one represent physically?
(2)Is there any way to directly visualize or read the true gradient sign of each quadrupole (positive/negative) within TraceWin, instead of only seeing absolute values?
Thank you very much for your clarification.
Best regards,
Hunry
I am trying to understand the meaning of the “Gradient” and “Gradient Integral” plots shown under Charts → Gradient in TraceWin.
In my case, I defined several quadrupoles manually in the Edit window, as shown below:
QUAD 150 2.55609 104 0 0 0 0 0
DRIFT 110 130 0 0 0
QUAD 300 -1.90877 104 0 0 0 0 0
DRIFT 96.66 130 0 0 0
QUAD 150 2.67971 104 0 0 0 0 0
DRIFT 709.2 130 0 0 0
However, when I open the Charts → Gradient plot (see attached Fig.1), all the gradient values appear as positive, so I cannot tell the sign of each quadrupole from this graph.
Then, in Charts → Gradient Integral (Fig.2), the values are also positive and seem to represent integrated quantities, but again without clear sign information.
So my questions are:
(1)What is the exact difference between the “Gradient” and “Gradient Integral” plots? What does each one represent physically?
(2)Is there any way to directly visualize or read the true gradient sign of each quadrupole (positive/negative) within TraceWin, instead of only seeing absolute values?
Thank you very much for your clarification.
Best regards,
Hunry