Usage of 'steps' in scans

[cappel89]

In our core scans, certain scan types (line_scan and grid_scan) require the number of steps to be specified as an integer. For example:

scans.grid_scan(
    dev.motor1, -5, 5, 10,
    dev.motor2, -5, 5, 10,
    exp_time=0.1,
    relative=True,
)

There have been requests from beamlines to alternatively define the motor step size as a distance (float) rather than a number of points. We have now introduced a new scan that supports defining the motor_step (float) as a distance:

For example:

scans.hexagonal_scan(
    dev.motor1, -5, 5, 0.5,
    dev.motor2, -5, 5, 0.5,
    exp_time=0.1,
    relative=True,
)

Going forward, it may be beneficial for scan definitions to support both conventions:

• motor step as a distance (float)
• motor step as a number of points (int)