Simphony is a GPU-accelerated optical photon transport framework that couples NVIDIA OptiX with Geant4 for detector simulation workflows. It imports GDML detector geometries, offloads optical photon propagation to NVIDIA GPUs, and provides example applications for Cerenkov, scintillation, torch-driven, and file-driven photon transport studies.
The project builds on Simon Blyth's original Opticks work and adapts that approach for current OptiX- and Geant4-based simulation workflows.
git clone https://github.com/BNLNPPS/simphony.git
cmake -S simphony -B build
cmake --build buildTo build from source, install CUDA 12.1+, NVIDIA OptiX 7+, and Geant4 11.3+. A CUDA-capable NVIDIA GPU is required only to run Simphony and its GPU-backed examples.
Simphony can also be installed via Spack as a dependency:
spack repo add https://github.com/BNLNPPS/spack-packages
spack install simphonyTo try the latest release image and verify that GPU-enabled code runs on your machine, you can use either Docker or Apptainer/Singularity:
docker run --rm --gpus all ghcr.io/bnlnpps/simphony simg4ox -g tests/geom/raindrop.gdml -m tests/run.mac
apptainer exec --nv docker://ghcr.io/bnlnpps/simphony simg4ox -g /workspaces/simphony/tests/geom/opticks_raindrop.gdml -m /workspaces/simphony/tests/run.macFor local development, you can build the develop image yourself or use the
repository's devcontainer configuration. On
a reasonably provisioned machine, building the develop image can take under 10
minutes. See Getting started for Docker, Singularity,
and development-environment details.
The build-push.yaml workflow publishes the versioned container tags below to GHCR on pushes to main, while release.yaml publishes the latest alias on tagged releases. Tag entries link to the
Simphony package page.
| Target | OS | CUDA | OptiX | Geant4 | Alias | Tag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
release |
ubuntu24.04 |
13.2.0 |
9.1.0 |
11.4.1 |
cuda13.2.0-release-ubuntu24.04-optix9.1.0-geant411.4.1-cmake4.3.1 | |
release |
ubuntu24.04 |
13.0.2 |
9.0.0 |
11.4.1 |
latest |
cuda13.0.2-release-ubuntu24.04-optix9.0.0-geant411.4.1-cmake4.2.1 |
release |
ubuntu22.04 |
12.1.1 |
8.0.0 |
11.3.2 |
cuda12.1.1-release-ubuntu22.04-optix8.0.0-geant411.3.2-cmake3.22.1 | |
develop |
ubuntu24.04 |
13.0.2 |
9.0.0 |
11.4.1 |
develop |
cuda13.0.2-develop-ubuntu24.04-optix9.0.0-geant411.4.1-cmake4.2.1 |
develop |
ubuntu24.04 |
12.5.1 |
9.0.0 |
11.4.1 |
cuda12.5.1-develop-ubuntu24.04-optix9.0.0-geant411.4.1-cmake3.28.3 | |
develop |
ubuntu22.04 |
12.1.1 |
8.0.0 |
11.3.2 |
cuda12.1.1-develop-ubuntu22.04-optix8.0.0-geant411.3.2-cmake3.22.1 |