Charged-particle ray trace Decorative artwork in the style of a CPO simulation plot: charged-particle trajectories, drawn as fine lines, converge through a crossover at a focal point marked by a glowing dot - the kind of ray trace the CPO programs produce.

Consultant network

Your licence comes with an expert.

Every new CPO licence includes an initial consultation with an independent CPO specialist. You choose who; we arrange it and cover the cost.

  1. 01 - BuyPurchase any licenceCPO3D, CPO3DS or Complete, direct or via a reseller.
  2. 02 - ChoosePick your consultantBrowse the network below and choose who fits your problem.
  3. 03 - MeetBegin with a head startWe introduce you, cover the session, and any follow-on work is between you two.

The network

Choose your specialist

Christopher Walker

United Kingdom

I have much experimental experience in Ultra High Vacuum, Field emission and electron optical devices such as electron energy analysers. I have used a number of electron optical simulation packages including SIMION, COMSOL and Poisson-Superfish.

With CPO I have simulated field emission from a nanotip in both 2D and 3D modes. I have also used SIMION and CPO to simulate electron trajectories to optimise the performance of a miniature “Bessel box” electron energy analyser.

For the CPO simulations, I have simulated several non-cylindrically symmetric geometries - which would have been impossible for a Finite Element modelling package such as SIMION or Munro (MEBS). I have also simulated a high current device where space charge became an important aspect to consider.

Field emission Guns & cathodes Analysers Space charge 3-D geometries
Speaks English

Frank Read

United Kingdom

I wrote the CPO programs, and the Boundary Element Method they use was first applied to electron optics in my work in 1971. I am co-author of Electrostatic Lenses (Harting and Read, Elsevier, 1976) and of over 60 refereed papers on instrumentation and charged particle optics.

I have consulted on instrument design for Kratos Analytical, Shimadzu Research Laboratories, VG Scientific, Micromass, Corning, Photek, Photonis, IMS Vienna and Lucent Technologies. My own inventions include the zoom lens, the magnetic paralleliser, the parallel cylindrical mirror analyser and the backward-scattering technique.

I have retired from general consultancy, but I remain available for selected work - particularly where the method itself is in question: space charge and stochastic Coulomb interactions, energy analyser design, and cases where the numbers coming out of a simulation need to be understood rather than merely obtained.

Lenses & columns Analysers Space charge Mass spec
Speaks English

Join the consultant network

Open to practising CPO users who support customers with a current paid CPO licence.

You needn't describe your work to be listed, and the consultation fee can be taken as licence credit instead of cash.

Read the consultant agreement before you register - it's what you'll be agreeing to.

Register your interest →

Listings are shown in a shuffled order on each visit, for fairness.

Plainly

How it works

An initial consultation costs you nothing on top of the licence: we make the introduction and we pay for the session.

An initial consultation runs up to six hours, covering your consultant's preparation, the session itself, and a short written note afterwards setting out what you discussed and what they recommend. You have six months from buying your licence to use it, and if you need longer you can ask us.

Anything you agree with your consultant after that is between the two of you. We take no commission and we do not set their rates. We are not party to it, which keeps it simple and keeps us out of work we are not qualified to supervise.

Ownership of the models, reports and recommendations is for you and your consultant to agree between yourselves - we claim none of it, and nothing about our software gives us a claim on your simulation files either. They are yours to keep, to hand to a colleague, and to open under your own licence, during the engagement and long after it.

Every consultant has agreed our written terms.

If you are not sure whether your problem suits an initial consultation, please ask us.

Background

Our history of consultancy

CPO has advised on instrument design since the 1970s. Frank Read - co-author of Electrostatic Lenses (Harting & Read, 1976) - consulted for Kratos, Shimadzu, VG Scientific, Corning, Photek and Lucent, among others, and has since retired from general consultancy, though he still accepts selected work. The network continues that work: every consultant is a practising CPO user who has agreed to our consultancy terms and supports customers with a current paid CPO licence. The full consultancy record →

Use CPO at an expert level?

Join the network: we arrange and pay for initial consultations with new customers, and any follow-on work is yours to agree directly. Take the fee as cash, as credit against your own licence, or have us pay your institution or a fund you name.

Register your interest
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