Attenuation corrections for X-ray and neutron fibre diffraction studies

The form of the transmission factor for sample geometries encountered in X-ray and neutron fibre diffraction studies is considered. Transmission factors obtained by Monte Carlo experiments and a simple first-order approximation are compared and agree to within 1% for studies of the distribution of water and cations around DNA. The first-order approximation has the advantage of being simple and less computationally expensive.